Lancet Article Assesses Role of Industry in Non-Communicable Disease Policy
An article recently published in The Lancet has apparently concluded that industries promoting so-called “unhealthy commodities” “should have no role in the formation of national or international NCD [non-communicable disease] policy.” Rob Moodie, et al., “Profits and pandemics: prevention of harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink industries,” The Lancet, February 2013. Writing on behalf of The Lancet’s NCD Action Group, researchers examined the purported influence of transnational tobacco, alcohol and food and beverage companies in low- and middle-income countries, as well as “the effectiveness of self-regulation, public-private partnerships, and public regulation models of interaction with these industries.”
Focusing on the alleged financial ties between transnational corporations and public-health policymakers, the article ultimately argues that the food and beverage industries “use similar strategies to the tobacco industry to undermine effective public health policies and programs.” In particular, the authors find “no evidence to support the effectiveness or safety” of industry-backed initiatives such as self-regulation or public-private partnerships. Instead, the article proposes, among other things, that (i) “discussions with unhealthy commodity industries should be with government only and have a clear goal of the use of evidence-based approaches by government”; (ii) “funding and other support for research, education, and programs should not be accepted from the tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink industries or their affiliates and associates”; (iii) “evidence-based approaches such as legislation, regulation, taxation, pricing, ban, and restriction of advertising and sponsorship should be introduced”; and (iv) “a new scientific discipline that investigates industrial diseases and the transnational corporations that drive them, should be developed.”
“Public regulation and market intervention are the only evidence-based
mechanisms to prevent harm cause by the unhealthy commodities market,”
opine the article’s authors. “Regulation, or the threat of regulation, is the only
way to change transnational corporations.” Additional details about the work
of lead author Rob Moodie appear in Issue 460 of this Update.
