Companies are the main cause of non-communicable diseases says WHO

Addiction Economy Thought for Today - new and rather shocking report from World Health Organization on the "Commercial Determinants of Noncommunicable Diseases in Europe'.

We are chuffed that this maps almost exactly onto our 5 Economic Drivers of Addiction, tho they have good sections on Trade, Employment & Financialisation we don't, & good examples of regulation & case studies to add to our database.

Our White Paper below is almost a summary of theirs with many similar recommendations, and all Grant Ennis 9 Frames of Disinformation are there in various guises with examples! We also synthesis 5 Models of Addiction which starts to explain the political and academic values and why business impact is not curtailed.

https://lnkd.in/eYMPjEej

A few other interesting things popped out for me:

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT - p63, Chapter on Casting Doubt on Evidence:

People like me bang on about the importance of stakeholder engagement, meaning citizens, the people most negatively impacted by the product and countervailing voices to business and other vested interests. However WHO point out there is a significant drawback to this! "Another feature of Better Regulation is mandatory stakeholder consultation, which embeds the right for industry to have its voice heard early in scientific debates. This process has been described as “an opportunity for highly resourced corporations to slow, weaken, or prevent public health policies” .

No clear guidance on what to do instead. Will ponder. Perhaps one for the next version of our Framework for Meaning Involvement of Stakeholders European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting!

They mention a Policy Dialogue Preparation and Facilitation Checklist which we will take a look at. Here:

https://lnkd.in/eA6Tixic

PRIVATE SECTOR VS PUBLIC SECTOR WEALTH - page 10

This was a real shocker. In rich countries "...since the late 1970s, effective tax rates on health-harming corporations fell, while harm from those industries increased. This means that corporate profits and power increased while governments and individuals, having to meet the costs of that harm, became increasingly impoverished."

They have a chart showing that the UK has the biggest fall in public wealth and are now the lowest of rich countries, and the second biggest rise in private wealth after Spain.

MYTHBUSTING ARGUMENTS AGAINST MKTG LAWS P19
They nicely debunk these age old strategies used to argue against marketing restriction:

* Self regulation is sufficient
* People should take responsibility for their own and their children’s behaviours
* Marketing resrtictions will cause loss of of jobs and influence economy
* Marketing doesn’t target children and vulnerable groups.

Worth a read, as is ours here 🤣. https://lnkd.in/eYMPjEej

https://lnkd.in/e7zAAq3N