Policy Analysis & Alternatives: Public Health and Trade

CPATH Analysis

Global Trade and Public Health, Ellen R. Shaffer, PhD, MPH, Howard Waitzkin, MD, PhD, Joseph Brenner, MA, and Rebeca Jasso-Aguilar, MA.

American Journal of Public Health, Jan. 2005. Global trade and international trade agreements have transformed the capacity of governments to monitor and to protect public health, to regulate occupational and environmental health conditions and food products, and to ensure affordable access to medications. Proposals under negotiation for the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the regional Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement cover a wide range of health services, health facilities, clinician licensing, water and sanitation services, and tobacco and alcohol distribution services. Public health professionals and organizations rarely participate in trade negotiations or in resolution of trade disputes. The linkages among global trade, international trade agreements, and public health deserve more attention than they have received to date. (Am J Public Health. 2005;95:23–34. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.038091)

Democracy & Global Governance

Health Services

CPATH Analysis

"U.S. Public Health-Related Services Committed under the 'Bottom Up' Rules of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and Concerns" - "Major GATS Provisions and 'Top Down' Rules: Health Implications."

Intellectual Property & Access to Medicines

CPATH Analysis

• DR-CAFTA Undermines Affordable Medicines; Pharmaceutical Industry’s Role on USTR Advisory Committees. Testimony by the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health to the Ways and Means Committee, U.S. House of Representatives. Hearing on Implementation of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), Thursday, April 21, 2005

• CAFTA Side Letter Does Not Protect Access to Medicines – CPATH briefing note requested by Citizens Trade Campaign. Posted online, distributed by Citizens Trade Campaign nationally, and to Congress. September 30, 2004

• California Can Choose to Provide Affordable Prescription Drugs: A Public Health Approach to Trade Agreements. CPATH Testimony to California Legislature hearing: Offshoring California’s Democracy and Capital: NAFTA, CAFTA, and the Tradeoffs of Free Trade. A Decade of NAFTA, Looking Forward to CAFTA: The Impact on State Sovereignty. October, 2004.

• US-Australia Free Trade Agreement: Implications for Prescription Drug Prices in the US and Australia, June 2004.

Public Health Protections

Water

Universal Access to Water.

A billion people in the developing world lack access to safe drinking water, and 2.4 billion lack sanitation. Water is becoming scarcer and more costly in the United States in response to environmental factors, development, and maintenance. Major transnational corporations are vying to privatize water systems, supported by the GATS and international financial institutions. CPATH reports and analyzes the public health consequences of the water crisis, and offers democratic and sustainable alternatives for expanding access to safe water. Sister Cities projects bring together water system experts and union leaders from the developed and developing world to exchange skills and strategies, to create solidarity among communities facing privatized water systems, and to develop an effective advocacy response for providing policy alternatives in international trade negotiations.

Reports:

PRIVATIZING WATER
International Fact-Finding Mission on Water Sector Reform in Ghana - Report on the impact of proposed privatization of water in Ghana, issued in August, 2002. CPATH Directors Ellen R. Shaffer and Joe Brenner served as delegates representing the health care and labor communities, respectively.