Dear all I too was a bit concerned about the list's e-mails over the Cervidil so I thought I'd go straight to el presidento and ask Vanessa herself. As is her wont she responded by phone within two hours and so here's a summary of her response.
Despite many requests to do so and the profits involved the ACMI refuses to sell its mailing list to anyone. What it does do if it thinks there are good professional and ethical reasons to do so (for example the recent Ant D mail out sent to all of us) is to arrange for the organisation to send the ACMI the brochures and envelopes etc. Incidently the ACMI will not support mail outs for stuff that contravenes WHO code etc. It vets all the requests for mail outs very carefully to make sure they fit the ACMI's Code of Ethics. The ACMI then sends the stuff out themselves. Usually organisations such as the ACMI charge for the work this service involves. By the way Nurses Boards in Oz follow exactly the same policy. the rest of this e-mail is from me. I hope this allays fears that members of the ACMI are going to be inundated with ads. I understand that Cervidil may be out of the range of community midwives' scope of practice but in all likelihood ( whether they want to or not) the majority of oz-list members will be using it sooner rather than later. Thus I think Cervidil falls into the range of 'ethical products' which I think we need to be informed about. I suppose if members object to this system then they can ask that their name be withdrawn from all mailing lists! Having said this it is probably too hard for the ACMI to determine which bits we want to be told about and which bits we don't. In other words we get it all or none! Carol -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
