title: The vulnerability of being ill informed: the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and Global Public Health.
abstract: The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is a regional trade agreement currently being negotiated by 11 Pacific Rim countries, excluding China. While the negotiations are being conducted under a veil of secrecy, substantive leaks over the past 4 years have revealed a broad view of the proposed contents. As it stands the TPPA poses serious risks to global public health, particularly chronic, non-communicable diseases. At greatest risk are national tobacco regulations, regulations governing the emergence of generic drugs and controls over food imports by transnational corporations. Aside from a small group of public health professionals from Australia, the academic public health community has missed these threats to the global community, although many other health-related entities, international lawyers and health-conscious politicians have voiced serious concerns. As of mid-2014 there has been no comment in the leading public health journals. This large lacuna in interest or recognition reflects the larger problem that the public health education community has all but ignored global non-communicable diseases. Without such a focus, the risks are unseen and the threats not perceived. This cautionary tale of the TPPA reflects the vulnerability of being ill informed of contemporary realities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, Room 805, 722 West 168th St., New York, NY 10032, USA Institute of Human Nutrition, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Department of Cardiology, Mt. Sinai Roosevelt Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, Room 805, 722 West 168th St., New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shiau
mesh_terms: D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D011315:Preventive Medicine; D011634:Public Health; D011640:Public Policy; D014481:United States
keywords: chronic disease; economics; finance and industry; public health