MOTHRA FIGHTS GODZILLA IJOEH/ACOEM

[Guest guest]

Hey All,

FYI, Another one weighing in on our IJOEH paper, " ACOEM, A professional

organization in service to industry "

Sharon K

Workers Comp Law Blog

MOTHRA FIGHTS GODZILLA

Sunday, November 18, 2007, 12:59 PM - _Medical treatment under WC_

(http://www.workerscompzone.com/index.php?category=2)

Hey, it's the weekend and my mind works in strange ways.

Remember the 1950s/1960s Japanese monster films, many of which are now cult

classics? Mothra vs. Godzilla was in 1962:

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothra_vs._Godzilla_

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothra_vs._Godzilla)

I couldn't help thinking of those classic monster films this week as I saw

ACOEM doing battle with IJOEH in the press. The battle of the acronyms.

ACOEM is the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

ACOEM's cookbook of medicine is now the official standard for treatment for

California's workers' comp system (with a few exceptions, such as for

acupuncture and chronic pain treatment, which will have other guidelines).

ACOEM is now under scrutiny by academics specializing in occupational and

environmental health.

ACOEM appears to be a professional organization in service to industry.

The charge is made by researchers including University of California at San

Francisco professor ph LaDou in an article in this month's International

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH). LaDou is a

professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at UCSF.

The IJOEH charges against ACOEM are serious and detailed. Here's a long

quote from the preface to the article summarizing the full

contents on ACOEM:

" The American College of Occupational and Environmental (ACOEM) is a

professional association that represents the interests of its company employed

physician members. Fifty years ago the ACOEM began to assert itself in the

legislative arena as an advocate of limited regulation and enforcement of

occupational health and safety standards and laws, and environmental

protection. Today

the ACOEM provides a legitimizing professional organization for company

doctors, and continues to provide a vehicle to advance the agendas of their

corporate sponsors. Company doctors in ACOEM recently blocked attempts to have

the

organization take a stand on global warming. Company doctors employed by the

petrochemical industry even blocked the ACOEM from taking a position on

particulate air pollution. Industry money and influence pervade every aspect of

occupational and environmental medicine. The controlling influence of industry

over the ACOEM physicians should cease. The conflict of interests inherent in

the practice of occupational and environmental medicine is not resolved by

the ineffectual efforts of the ACOEM to establish a pretentious code of

conduct. The conflicted interests within the ACOEM have become too deeply

embedded

to be resolved by merely a self-governing code of conduct. The specialty

practice of occupational and environmental medicine has the opportunity and

obligation to join the public health movement. If it does, the ACOEM will have

no

further purpose as it exists, and specialists in occupational and

environmental medicine will meet with and be represented by public health

associations.

This paper chronicles the history of occupational medicine and industry

physicians as influenced and even controlled by corporate leaders. "

Way to go, Mothra! Take that, Godzilla!

You can read the entire paper online by clicking here:

_http://www.ijoeh.com/pfds/IJOEH_1304_LaDou02.pdf_

(http://www.ijoeh.com/pfds/IJOEH_1304_LaDou02.pdf)

You can see ACOEM defend itself in this " open letter " from its President:

_http://www.acoem.org/ResponseToIJOEH.aspx_

(http://www.acoem.org/ResponseToIJOEH.aspx)

Don't count Godzilla out, but Mothra has definitely drawn blood in this

fight. ACOEM's defense will undoubtedly be subject to further scrutiny in the

academic press.

The IJOEH article notes that ACOEM refused to share information in its

archives with the UCSF researchers.

Why does any of this matter? ACOEM has adopted a smug patina of

invincibility as the arbiter of " best practices " in workplace medicine.

But the emperor may have no clothes.

Stay tuned. You can subscribe to the blog via RSS by clicking on the buttons

at the lower right menu bar.

Julius Young

_http://www.boxerlaw.com/attorney_bios/julius_young.html_

(http://www.boxerlaw.com/attorney_bios/julius_young.html)

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[Guest guest]

Thanks for the info Sharon. It is amazing the ACOEM continues to battle

the issue. Between the mold issue, the chemical issue, and the yeast

issue I am exhausted. I once when to an occupational and environmental

doctor at the University of Penn and the doctor told me yeast won't

hurt you, just get a job.

>

>

> Hey All,

>

> FYI, Another one weighing in on our IJOEH paper, " ACOEM, A

professional

> organization in service to industry "

>

> Sharon K

>

> Workers Comp Law Blog

>