Corporations dominate trade panels that set global health policy: public health groups sue US government for fair & democratic representation.A lawsuit filed today in US Federal District Court by public health and health professionals demanding that corporate interests be balanced with public interest representation on US Industry Trade Advisory Committees (ITACs) that advise the US Trade Representative (USTR USTR United States Trade Representative USTR United States Transuranium Registry (Richmond, Washington) USTR Underground Storage Tank Regulation ) on trade policies affecting public health. Non-profit and public interest organizations have been systematically denied posts on industry-dominated trade advisory committees that impact the health of millions of people around the world. The suit was filed today in US District Court in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden by Earthjustice on behalf of a coalition of public health organizations including: the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH CPATH CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (US National Science Foundation) ), California Public Health Association-North, the Chinese Progressive Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the American Nurses Association American Nurses Association, n.pr professional organization of registered nurses created to encourage high standards in nursing care, pro-mote nursing as a profession, and lobby Congress for issues of concern to nurses. . The coalition claims that the current makeup of advisory committees used by the Bush administration to establish trade policy favors corporate interests and illegally excludes public health advocates. At issue are committees that advise the USTR on a variety of public and environmental health protections, from standards for healthy food, water, health care services, and hazardous waste Hazardous waste Any solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. disposal services to access to generic pharmaceuticals and patenting of plants. For example, policies set by industry-dominated ITACs could prohibit public school systems from requiring limits on school soda machines. Trade policies have limited consumer access to generic drugs generic drug, a drug sold or prescribed under the nonproprietary name of its active ingredients or under a generally descriptive name rather than under a brand or trade name. , and could remove privacy protections from medical records, and promote privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned of public water supplies. The Federal Advisory Committees Act (FACA FACA Federal Advisory Committee Act FACA Florida Athletic Coaches Association FACA Florida Animal Control Association FACA Florida Association for Community Action FACA Forward Air Controller Airborne FACA Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas ) requires that advisory committees be "fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented." Though the US General Accounting Office recently issued a report criticizing the US Trade Representative for not opening most of its committees to public interest representatives, the USTR has failed, despite repeated requests from CPATH and others, to appoint representatives of public and environmental health organizations to several ITACs. So public interest organizations are now forced to go to court, seeking to ensure balance on these federal advisory panels. "We are calling on the US Trade Representative to obey the law and create more balanced advisory panels," said Ellen Shaffer, director of the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH). "Public health policy is an issue too important to be left to a private club of special interests. If there's room for the pharmaceutical, alcohol, food processing Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. The food processing industry utilises these processes. and health insurance industries, there must be room for us." Martin Wagner, director of international programs for Earthjustice who is representing the coalition said, "US trade policy affects the health of people and the environment around the world. But the US Trade Representative is getting its most direct guidance from committees dominated by industries seeking to maximize corporate profits rather than promote global health. This suit seeks to bring a public voice to these important decisions." "Currently the health advisory committees are made up exclusively of industry representatives," said Peter Abbott, President of California Public Health Association-North. "The foxes are not just guarding the hen house, but they are selling the eggs in a private market. That's no way for international trade policy to be made." "You would think that a trade panel empowered to make public health decisions that will impact millions of people would seek out a few doctors and medical experts with no ties to industry," said Kyle Kinner of Physicians for Social Responsibility. "But unfortunately, that is not happening. Hopefully this legal action will bring some balance to the process." "The public health impact of increased trade is of particular interest to Chinese-Americans," said Mele Lau-Smith of the Chinese Progressive Association. "While worker safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities or processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. are relatively high in the West, many industries seeking to outsource labor actually encourage lower public health and worker safety policies overseas to increase profits. This is unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it. When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience. . There needs to be more oversight of this process by public health experts in the US demanding the highest international standards for Western corporations outsourcing labor." "International trade agreements affect health services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract and the personnel who deliver them. Given this it is critical that the U.S. trade advisory process be open, transparent and balanced," said Barbara Blakeney, President of the American Nurses Association. Read the complaint here: http://www.earth justice.org/news/documents/12-05/HealthITACs Complaint.pdf |
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