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The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Trading away our health?

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Abstract

There is long-standing interest by the public health community in the potential implications of trade and investment agreements for public health. Our commentary highlights the main pathways by which the Trans-Pacific Partnerships (TPP), a comprehensive trade and investment agreement currently under negotiation, might undermine population health (based on analysis of and commentary about leaked chapters of the TPP), and calls for a more transparent and health-sensitive TPP negotiation process. We argue that use of comprehensive health impact assessments could be helpful in identifying how the potentially serious health consequences of the TPP and similar future international trade and investment agreements can be avoided, minimized or mitigated.

Résumé

Le milieu de la santé publique s’intéresse depuis longtemps aux répercussions possibles des accords commerciaux et d’investissement sur la santé publique. Notre commentaire souligne les principales voies par lesquelles le Partenariat transpacifique (PTP), un accord commercial et d’investissement complet en voie de négociation, pourrait miner la santé de la population (selon l’analyse et les commentaires sur les chapitres divulgués du PTP) et exige un processus de négociation plus transparent et sensible sur le plan de la santé. Nous affirmons que le recours à une évaluation complète des répercussions sur la santé pourrait être utile pour cerner comment les conséquences sur la santé, peut-être graves, du PTP et de tout accord commercial et d’investissement semblable à venir pourraient être évitées, minimisées ou atténuées.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine; Globalization and Health Equity, 850 Peter Morand Crescent, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1G 3Z7, Canada

    Arne Ruckert PhD, Ashley Schram MSc & Ronald Labonté PhD

Authors
  1. Arne Ruckert PhD
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  2. Ashley Schram MSc
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  3. Ronald Labonté PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arne Ruckert PhD.

Additional information

Funding: The research leading to this commentary was made possible through financial support provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Operating Grant Nr. 133483).

Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

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Ruckert, A., Schram, A. & Labonté, R. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Trading away our health?. Can J Public Health 106, e249–e251 (2015). https://doi.org/10.17269/cjph.106.4896

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.17269/cjph.106.4896

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