No Free Lunch is the name of an organization of health care providers that encourages doctors to refuse gifts from industry. Now the organization says that the American Academy of Family Physicians won't let them exhibit at the upcoming AAFP annual meeting in San Francisco.
No Free Lunch says that AAFP rejected them because their position was "not within the character and purpose of the Scientific Assembly" and therefore did not meet the AAFP’s eligibility requirements. But No Free Lunch points out that AAFP did allow Coca-Cola, McDonald's and the Distilled Spirits Council to be present at the meeting.
No Free Lunch says that more than 5,000 physicians are expected to attend the meeting, and exhibitors are told on the AAFP website that “seven dedicated exhibit hall hours provide you with the opportunity for one-on-one access to these high-prescribing, qualified buyers!”
No Free Lunch claims that in April of this year, The American College of Physicians also denied them the opportunity to exhibit at its Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The group further claims that "ACP prevented No Free Lunch members and medical students from distributing literature --in some instances using armed San Francisco Police--even when this literature was the ACP’s own guidelines on acceptance of gifts from industry."