Press Release: Corporate Accountability International's Statement to the World Health Assembly

 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Corporate Accountability International and our 80,000 members and supporters around the world. My name is Gigi Kellett and I would like to address both tobacco and diet-related diseases as they remain the top two causes of preventable death globally.

 

First, this year marks the fifth anniversary of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s first public health and corporate accountability treaty. We congratulate the WHO and its Member States for all it has accomplished to address the scourge of tobacco-related disease globally.

 

Unfortunately, interference by the tobacco industry remains the single greatest threat to implementation of the treaty’s lifesaving measures. Last week, during the Philip Morris International Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, the CEO reassured attendees that the corporation had no intention of complying with the treaty’s unanimously adopted Article 5.3 guidelines that recognize the tobacco industry’s fundamental conflict with public health policies.

 

We urge Member States to remain committed to increased funding for the treaty’s implementation and vigilant in its enforcement. We assure you that we will continue to monitor and expose Big Tobacco’s deadly tricks and to support Parties in implementing the treaty and its Article 5.3 guidelines.

 

Second, we commend the WHO for developing recommendations on the marketing of foods to children. These recommendations represent advancement in the effort to reduce the impact of diet-related diseases on children’s health by curbing transnational corporations’ irresponsible marketing of foods high in fat, sugar and salt to children.

 

The recommendations reinforce the importance of Member States as the key stakeholder in setting policy. This is particularly important considering the proven ineffectiveness of the food industry’s self-regulatory and voluntary approaches. Statutory regulation is the only effective means of implementing the marketing recommendations.

Voluntary corporate agreements have serious limitations that render them ineffective in addressing public health concerns and are limited in terms of the rights they include and the sectors they cover. In addition, many companies choose not to join any voluntary initiative. 

 

In the United States, two recent independent investigations determined that the voluntary Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative has been ineffective and that a majority of participating transnational food corporations continues to market foods high in fat, sugar and salt directly to children. For example, 88 percent of the products that McDonald’s deemed appropriate to market to children under a voluntary marketing scheme did not meet third-party nutrition standards.

 

We ask Member States to enact statutory regulations as the only effective means to implement the WHO’s marketing recommendations and reduce the negative impact of junk food marketing on children’s health.

 

Thank you.