Questioning the Normalization of Harmful Industries in Public Health: A Call to Action

Addiction Economy Thought for Today - how did all this become 'normal'

Great to see this European Health Forum Gastein initiative asking the questions we are asking in our Addiction Economy work.

"There is a positive trend to denormalise the involvement of unhealthy commodity industries in public health policymaking, reinforcing the need for legal frameworks rather than relying on self-regulation".

The question are looking at specifically is just this too - how did it become normal that an ordinary company kills half its customers and yet people stick up for it’s right to kill them?   How did it become normal that most of the ‘food’ people eat makes them not healthier, but shorter, fatter and sicker?  How did it become normal that one of the biggest causes of financial hardship and suicide, gambling, was encouraged to

How did it become normal that 4 household name industries  - think alcohol, ultra-processed foods, cigarettes and gambling are now the biggest cause of ill health and preventable death annually, and yet there are no protests on the street, no-one’s glued themselves to anything, and political attempts to prevent their harms through regulation are considered too controversial. How did this become so acceptable that when new addictive products are created, such as social media, computer games and vapes the same failure continues to happen?

Is it as simple as the negative influence of companies? Our research is beginning to show yes. It is that simple.

So it should be that simple to undo that influence and focus on a pro-society approach to policy with political will and society kicking their ass!

Vai Nason Maani