‘Lethal But Legal’: The Corporate Connections (Commercial Determinants of Health)
摘要
Alcohol and tobacco have long been of concern to public health, but since the first edition of this book was published attention has focussed on a new, wider set of commercial determinants of health, at least in part because of rapidly rising prevalence of overweight and obesity. We identify connections with neoliberalism by way of corporate strategies to promote highly profitable hyper-palatable and ultra-processed foods (UPFs), and policy environments that permit these strategies to proliferate. We draw attention to accumulating evidence of multiple additional health harms associated with diets heavy in UPFs. We describe the corporate strategy of ‘manufacturing uncertainty’ to resist regulation, inspired by the tobacco industry, and describe how the international legal infrastructure for neoliberalisation complicates the control of commercial determinants of health. We also discuss endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and fossil fuels as commercial determinants of health.