in Climate Change, Environmental, Food Sustainability, Policy Work
January 14, 2008

A quick look back to 2007 reveals significant success by our chapter in getting two important resolutions through the California Medical Association (CMA).

Along with Lucy Crain, MD, Chapter President Robert Gould, MD authored “Modern Chemicals Policy,” a resolution which addresses the burgeoning scientific literature on the effects of industrial chemicals on public health.The resolution calls upon California and the U.S. government to implement a comprehensive chemicals policy drawing on sound scientific research and evaluating the human health impact of existing and new industrial chemicals in a manner similar to the FDA’s evaluation of medicines and drugs.

Robert Gould’s “Improving Health Through Sustainable Food Purchasing” was also adopted by the CMA, and encourages hospitals, other healthcare institutions, and healthcare providers to adopt food procurement practices that support the environmentally and socially sustainable production of food. This includes eschewing the support of industrial agriculture–which contributes tremendous pollution and environmental toxicity through its practices, and offers products laden with residual antibiotics and toxic pesticides—in favor of small- to medium-sized farms which emphasize organic methods, renewable resources, and ecological diversity.Through their substantial purchasing power and social standing as models of public health, these institutions can have a marked positive impact on how food is raised in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Our website (sfbaypsr.org) has links to the full text of the myriad policy resolutions which our chapter has successfully sponsored through numerous influential medical intitutions.