Frederic W. Grannis Jr MD
Head, Section of Thoracic Surgery
City of Hope National Medical Center 1500 E. Duarte Road,
Duarte CA 91010
August 6, 1997
Editor, George D. Lundberg, MD,
Journal of the American Medical Association
515 N State St,
Chicago, IL 60610, USA;
fax: 312-464-5824; e-mail: [email protected].
with copies to
Dr Todd, Executive Vice President, AMA; Dr Rennie, Deputy Editor (West), JAMA; Dr McAfee, President,AMA;
Dr Bristow, President-Elect, AMA;
Dr Painter, Immediate Past President, AMA; Dr Reardon,Secretary-Treasurer, AMA;
Dr Johnson, Speaker, AMA House of Delegates;
Dr Corlin, Vice-Speaker, AMA House of Delegates; Dr Coble, AMA Trustee;
Dr Dickey, Vice-Chair, AMA Board of Trustees; Dr Flaherty,AMA Trustee;
Dr Formica, AMA Trustee;
Dr Goldrich, AMA Resident Physician Trustee; Dr Jacott, AMA Trustee;
Dr Lewers, AMA Trustee;
Dr Nelson, AMA Trustee;
Dr Seward, Chair, AMA Board of Trustees; Dr Smoak, AMA Trustee;
Mr Suk, AMA Student Trustee;
Dr Walker, AMA Trustee;
Dr Wootton, AMA Trustee;
.
Sir:
Please print this open letter to the Editor and to the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association, in the Letters to the Editor Section of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The word count is 197.
The American Medical Association took "an unequivocal stance against tobacco" in it's editorial (The Brown and Williamson Documents, Where Do We Go From Here?), in the July 19, 1995 issue of JAMA, from the full membership of the AMA Board of Trustees. Among the steps recommended by the AMA was the following.
"3. Politicians should not accept money from the tobacco industry
but should direct their efforts to protection of the nonsmoking majority. Those who do accept money should be identified publicly."
The resolve of the AMA must now be tested, because some of the politicians who now take money from the tobacco industry are physicians! A list of the physicians, senators and representatives, who have taken money from the tobacco industry, according to Common Cause, follows. I ask that you follow your guidelines and identify these physician politicians publicly.
Bill Frist MD Senator, Tennessee $15,500
Dave Weldon MD Representative Florida $1000
Ronald Paul MD Representative Texas $2500
The other physicians in Congress, who took no money from the tobacco industry are
Jim McDermott MD Representative Washington
John Cooksey MD Representative Louisiana
Vic Snyder MD Representative Arkansas
Tom Coburn MD Representative Oklahoma
Greg Ganske MD Representative Iowa.
Very truly yours
Frederic W. Grannis Jr. MD
Head, Section of Thoracic Surgery
City of Hope National Medical Center Duarte, CA
cc Common Cause
Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Los Angeles Times