By Mary Rettig and Jody Brown
July 14, 2005

(AgapePress) - The American Medical Association is taking on violent video games and underage drinking. The chair of the ethics commission for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations says he basically agrees with the AMA.

A measure adopted by the AMA in June calls for more appropriate labeling of video games so that only adults would be able to purchase violent games. Dr. Robert Scheidt says the AMA wants to influence the video game industry to be more honest about what is in their products. The CMDA spokesman says today's ratings system is not good enough -- that ratings are misleading and are being imposed by people who are really just out to make money.

"I think the ratings can vary from state to state and place to place. It would be nice to have uniform ratings," Scheidt says. "It would also be nice to have the ratings by content -- that is, is the problem here sexual, or is it violence, or is it drinking, or is it language? And finally, [I think] it would be ... of value -- and this is what the AMA is saying -- to rate by age."

Another measure adopted by the AMA urges the organization to lobby for higher alcohol taxes and for those taxes to be based on the level of alcoholic content instead of fluid volume. An AMA committee stated that, according to evidence, increased taxes lead to "lower alcohol consumption rates among adults and youth, fewer binge-drinking episodes, and lower traffic fatality rates."

Scheidt is not convinced of that. He says the AMA's desire to raise taxes on alcohol based on content will probably not make much difference. Most Americans, he feels, seem to have no problem with alcohol -- so changing opinions is not likely. But he believes the AMA's efforts point out a critical failure in American society: parental involvement.

"Parents are not monitoring their children. Parents are not controlling where their children are, what they are watching, who they are associating with," he says. "And consequently, with this failure, somebody has to step into the breach or our culture is going to fragment."

Scheidt contends both the video game and alcohol industries know their products can be destructive. And with the AMA stepping up, he is hopeful some of those bad influences can be prevented.

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