Government and NGO Leaders Promote Safeguards Against Corporate Interference in Health Policy

For Immediate Release:  May 21, 2009
Contact:  Bryan Hirsch, +41 (0) 76 547 3476

GENEVA – In addition to coordinating efforts to control the spread of the H1N1 virus, this week’s 62nd World Health Assembly (WHA) has reaffirmed its commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). WHO Director-General Margaret Chan cautioned delegates not to allow pressure for economic growth to trump health. This principle is enshrined in the WHO’s first treaty, for which more than 160 ratifying countries recently adopted groundbreaking implementation guidelines.

“For too long, tobacco was an issue where vested commercial interests prevailed over the broad public interest,” said Kathy Mulvey, international policy director for Corporate Accountability International. “That all changed when the WHO launched its first treaty – and when that treaty required ratifying countries to protect their health policies against tobacco industry interference. Whether the pandemic is passed from mouth to mouth or from cartons to kids, there must be no delay in putting these lifesaving measures in place.” The global tobacco epidemic still claims more than five million lives each year.

This is the first Assembly since the adoption of guidelines on Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Unanimously approved by more than 160 ratifying countries in Durban, South Africa, last November, these guidelines include concrete recommendations to prevent the tobacco industry from undermining public health policy. According to the guidelines, countries should refuse to:
 

•  Treat tobacco corporations as “stakeholders” in public health policy;
•  Invest in the tobacco industry;
•  Partner with the tobacco industry for health or other purposes; or
• Tolerate tobacco corporations’ so-called corporate social responsibility schemes.

WHO estimates that comprehensive implementation of the global tobacco treaty will save up to 200 million lives by 2050. At this week’s Assembly, NGOs and leaders of FCTC negotiations are urging health ministers to implement the treaty fully and swiftly, and to use the Article 5.3 guidelines as a model for safeguarding health policy against corporate conflicts of interest.

In accordance with these new guidelines, Norway has divested from the tobacco industry, dumping $2.1 billion in tobacco stocks from its state pension fund, the Chinese government revoked the nominations of several state-owned tobacco corporations for awards in recognition of their philanthropic contributions, and India severed ties with a conference on tobacco control that included industry representatives.

“Article 5.3 provides a model for safeguarding against conflicts of interest between the private sector and public interest on a range of health issues — from infant nutrition to access to safe drinking water to marketing of unhealthy foods to children,” explains Dr. Arun Gupta, Regional Coordinator for the International Baby Food Action Network Asia (IBFAN). IBFAN is calling on WHA leaders to stop commercial interference in infant feeding and fully implement the WHO Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and subsequent relevant WHA resolutions. Article 5.3 of the FCTC captures the same spirit as WHA Resolutions 49.15, 58.32 and 61.20, but offers more concrete guidance to governments about how to effectively prevent conflicts of interest in all areas of health and nutrition.”

“There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests’”, says Dr. Graciela Gamarra, Director-General of Strategic Information in Health for Paraguay, quoting the Article 5.3 guidelines. “We must not take for granted that corporations’ interests converge with public health policy in any sector. Frequently they do not. Just look at Suez’s and Bechtel’s failed water privatization projects in Latin America.”

Water and sanitation are recognized by the MDGs as a cornerstone for alleviating poverty, increasing development and improving health outcomes in the developing world. WHA Document A62/10 outlines the health threats posed by lack of safe water and poor sanitation, and the impact on morbidity and mortality. The report also notes WHO’s intention to work in partnership with all actors concerned with improving people’s health, including the private sector.

“Unfortunately, international financial institutions have promoted the myth that water privatization improves people’s access to water,” explains Mulvey. “Now is a key moment for WHO to take a leadership role in shaping an economic recovery plan that will advance the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Rather than so-called ‘public-private partnerships’, what’s needed is investment in accountable and efficient public water systems that operate in the interest of the public.”

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