University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities 2013 Monitoring the impacts of trade agreements on food environments Sharon Friel Australian National University Libby Hattersley Australian National University W Snowdon Deakin University A -M Thow University of Sydney T Lobstein Curtin University See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers Part of the Education Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Friel, Sharon; Hattersley, Libby; Snowdon, W; Thow, A -M; Lobstein, T; Sanders, D; Barquera, S; Mohan, S; Hawkes, C; Kelly, Bridget; Kumanyika, S; L'Abbe, M; Lee, A; Ma, J; Macmullan, J; Monteiro, C; Neal, Bruce; Rayner, M; Sacks, G; Swinburn, Boyd A.; Vandevijvere, S; and Walker, C, "Monitoring the impacts of trade agreements on food environments" (2013). Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers. 862. https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/862 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Monitoring the impacts of trade agreements on food environments Abstract The liberalization of international trade and foreign direct investment through multilateral, regional and bilateral agreements has had profound implications for the structure and nature of food systems, and therefore, for the availability, nutritional quality, accessibility, price and promotion of foods in different locations. Public health attention has only relatively recently turned to the links between trade and investment agreements, diets and health, and there is currently no systematic monitoring of this area. This paper reviews the available evidence on the links between trade agreements, food environments and diets from an obesity and non-communicable disease (NCD) perspective. Based on the key issues identified through the review, the paper outlines an approach for monitoring the potential impact of trade agreements on food environments and obesity/NCD risks. The proposed monitoring approach encompasses a set of guiding principles, recommended procedures for data collection and analysis, and quantifiable minimal',' 'expanded' and 'optimal' measurement indicators to be tailored to national priorities, capacity and resources. Formal risk assessment processes of existing and evolving trade and investment agreements, which focus on their impacts on food environments will help inform the development of healthy trade policy, strengthen domestic nutrition and health policy space and ultimately protect population nutrition. Keywords impacts, trade, agreements, food, monitoring, environments Disciplines Education | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Friel, S., Hattersley, L., Snowdon, W., Thow, A. -M., Lobstein, T., Sanders, D., Barquera, S., Mohan, S., Hawkes, C., Kelly, B., Kumanyika, S., L'Abbe, M., Lee, A., Ma, J., Macmullan, J., Monteiro, C., Neal, B., Rayner, M., Sacks, G., Swinburn, B., Vandevijvere, S. & Walker, C. (2013). Monitoring the impacts of trade agreements on food environments. Obesity Reviews, 14 (Suppl. S1), 120-134. Authors Sharon Friel, Libby Hattersley, W Snowdon, A -M Thow, T Lobstein, D Sanders, S Barquera, S Mohan, C Hawkes, Bridget Kelly, S Kumanyika, M L'Abbe, A Lee, J Ma, J Macmullan, C Monteiro, Bruce Neal, M Rayner, G Sacks, Boyd A. Swinburn, S Vandevijvere, and C Walker This journal article is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/862 obesity reviews doi: 10.1111/obr.12081 Review Monitoring the impacts of trade agreements on food environments S. Friel1#, L. Hattersley1#, W. Snowdon2,3#, A.-M. Thow4#, T. Lobstein5,6#, D. Sanders7#, S. Barquera8#, S. Mohan9#, C. Hawkes10#, B. Kelly11, S. Kumanyika12, M. L’Abbe13,A.Lee14,J.Ma15, J. Macmullan16, C. Monteiro17, B. Neal18, M. Rayner19, G. Sacks3, B. Swinburn3,20, S. Vandevijvere20 and C. Walker21 for INFORMAS∧ 1National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Summary Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital The liberalization of international trade and foreign direct investment through 2 Territory, Australia; Pacific Research Centre for the multilateral, regional and bilateral agreements has had profound implications Prevention of Obesity and Non-Communicable Diseases for the structure and nature of food systems, and therefore, for the availability, (C-POND), Suva, Fiji; 3WHO Collaborating Centre for nutritional quality, accessibility, price and promotion of foods in different Obesity Prevention, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 4Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of locations. Public health attention has only relatively recently turned to the links Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; between trade and investment agreements, diets and health, and there is cur- 5International Association for the Study of Obesity, rently no systematic monitoring of this area. This paper reviews the available London, UK; 6Public Health Advocacy Institute of Western evidence on the links between trade agreements, food environments and diets Australia, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, from an obesity and non-communicable disease (NCD) perspective. Based on Australia; 7School of Public Health, University of the the key issues identified through the review, the paper outlines an approach for Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa; 8National monitoring the potential impact of trade agreements on food environments and 9 Institute of Public Health, Mexico City, Mexico; Public obesity/NCD risks. The proposed monitoring approach encompasses a set of Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India; 10World guiding principles, recommended procedures for data collection and analysis, Cancer Research Fund, London, UK; 11School of Health and quantifiable ‘minimal’, ‘expanded’ and ‘optimal’ measurement indicators and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia; 12Perelman School of Medicine, to be tailored to national priorities, capacity and resources. Formal risk assess- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ment processes of existing and evolving trade and investment agreements, USA; 13Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of which focus on their impacts on food environments will help inform the Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 14School of Public development of healthy trade policy, strengthen domestic nutrition and health Health and Social Work and School of Exercise and policy space and ultimately protect population nutrition. Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, 15 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Chinese Center for Keywords: INFORMAS, non-communicable diseases, obesity, Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC), Beijing, China; trade agreements 16Consumers International, London, UK; 17School of Public . Health, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 18The George Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; obesity reviews (2013) 14 (Suppl. 1), 120–134 19British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 20School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; 21Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Geneva, Switzerland Address for correspondence: S Friel, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Mills Road, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] #Members of the writing group for this manuscript, listed in order of their contribution to the writing of the manuscript. ∧INFORMAS is the International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support. All authors who are not members of the writing group are listed in alphabetical order, and contributed to the development of the key concepts and principles discussed in this manuscript as part of the first formal meeting of INFORMAS from 19 to 23 November 2012 at Bellagio, Italy. 120 © 2013 The Authors. Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd 14 (Suppl. 1), 120–134, October 2013 on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. obesity reviews Trade agreements and food environments S. Friel et al. 121 They frequently incorporate qualitatively new provisions Introduction relating to subjects that lie outside the WTO mandate, such Food trade is a key component of global, regional and as environment, labour, competition policy, government domestic food systems. From a population nutrition per- procurement, investment and IP. These so-called ‘WTO- spective, the liberalization of international trade and extra’ commitments are not necessarily directly trade- foreign direct investment (FDI) (see Table 1 for definition related, and are referred to as ‘behind-the-border’ concerns of trade-related terminology) has brought about three since they are domestic public policy issues (7–9). Many important changes to food systems: opening of domestic countries are members of multiple bilateral or regional markets towards international food trade and FDI; subse- trade and/or investment agreement in addition to the quent entry of transnational food corporations (TFCs)