Washington, D.C., October 9, 2003 - Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., issued the following statement on Proposition 54, rejected by California voters in the October 7 election:

"The defeat of Proposition 54 is an important victory for public health in the state of California. The proposition, otherwise known as the Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Color, and National Origin (CRECNO) Initiative, would have banned the collection and use of data on race, ethnicity, and national origin by all public agencies in the state, and by any group that received state funding.

AAMC was strongly opposed to Proposition 54 and offered support to various California groups that worked to defeat this initiative. If it had passed, this proposition would have had far-reaching negative consequences for health care in California, and would have set a damaging precedent for other states. With its defeat, state-funded public agencies and groups can continue to collect public health data about the state's many racial and ethnic populations through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and epidemiological research. These data are vital to improving the overall health of Californians in general, and to combating many of nation's most debilitating and deadly diseases including breast cancer, lung cancer, childhood diabetes, and AIDS. These data also offer insight into other problems, including teen smoking, adolescent weight problems, and lead poisoning.

In addition, information on race, ethnicity, and national origin is critically important to the nation's minority populations. Current research efforts depend on these data to better understand the causes and treatments of diseases that often afflict racial and ethnic groups unevenly because of hereditary predisposition and inconsistent care.

Proposition 54 was truly bad medicine and we applaud the citizens of California for their resounding rejection of this proposal."

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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