LETTERS
CROSBIE ET AL. RESPOND We agree with Shaffer and Brenner that a complete exclusion of tobacco controls from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as a carve-out, is important. The urgency for trade agreements to include a broad public health carve-out and to conform to national and international public health laws is increasingly important, as President Obama in June 2014 set a new deadline for the TPP to be completed by November 2014.1 In addition, legal mechanisms to prevent potential public health carve-outs once again include trade promotion authority (TPA), also known as fast-track authority, in which Congress cedes authority to the President to expedite trade agreements without public debate. On July 17, 2014, 23 Republicans sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requesting for TPA to expedite the TPP negotiations, but this time threatened the USTR that they would not support the TPP “if the agreement, even an agreement in principle, is completed before TPA is enacted.”2 As mentioned in our article, fasttrack authority further distances the public from debate, thus ongoing discussions such as this one with Shaffer and Brenner are necessary to ensure the priority of health over trade, not only in the United States, but globally. Trade agreements that correspond with national and international public health laws, including the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, would help prioritize health over trade. This would not only assist in protecting public health in the TPP but also in other proposed US free trade agreements such as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the European Union. To provide long-term protection beyond the current TPP and TTIP negotiations (as well as for any new free trade agreement), the United States and other countries need to enact laws requiring trade agreements to conform to national and international public health laws. A tobacco carve-out is an important first step toward winning a broad public health carve-out that would protect health policies impacted by trade agreements, such as access to medicines3 and food safety.4 j
About the Authors Eric Crosbie is with the University of California, Santa Cruz. Mariaelena Gonzalez is with the University of California, Merced. Stanton A. Glantz is with the University of California, San Francisco. Correspondence should be sent to Eric Crosbie, MA, PhD Candidate, Politics Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064 (e-mail: [email protected]). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the “Reprints” link. This letter was accepted August 27, 2014. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302317
Contributors E. Crosbie prepared the first draft and prepared revisions to the letter. M. Gonzalez and S. A. Glantz prepared revisions to the letter.
Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by National Cancer Institute Grants CA-113710 and CA-61021 and grant number 20FT-0077 from the University of California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. The funding agencies played no role in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit it for publication.
References 1. AFP-Jiji. Obama pushes for TPP deal by November. The Japan Times. June 21, 2014. Available at: http:// www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/06/21/business/ economy-business/obama-pushes-for-tpp-deal-bynovember/ -. U_Vxh4BdUio. Accessed August 20, 2014. 2. Camp D. Letter from US House of Representatives to Michael Froman. July 17, 2014. Available at: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ tpp_tpa_letter_final.pdf. Accessed August 20, 2014. 3. Kessomboon N, Limpananont J, Kulsomboon V, Maleewong U, Eksaengsri A, Paothong P. Impact on access to medicines from TRIPS-Plus: a case study of Thai-US FTA. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2010;41(3):667---677. 4. Ni KJ. Does science speak clearly and fairly in trade and food safety disputes? The search for an optimal response of WTO adjudication to problematic international standard-making. Food Drug Law J. 2013;68 (1):97---114 ii-iii.
Eric Crosbie, MA Mariaelena Gonzalez, PhD Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
December 2014, Vol 104, No. 12 | American Journal of Public Health
Letters | e5
CROSBIE ET AL. RESPOND We agree with Shaffer and Brenner that a complete exclusion of tobacco controls from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as a carve-out, is important. The urgency for trade agreements to include a broad public health carve-out and to conform to national and international public health laws is increasingly important, as President Obama in June 2014 set a new deadline for the TPP to be completed by November 2014.1 In addition, legal mechanisms to prevent potential public health carve-outs once again include trade promotion authority (TPA), also known as fast-track authority, in which Congress cedes authority to the President to expedite trade agreements without public debate. On July 17, 2014, 23 Republicans sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requesting for TPA to expedite the TPP negotiations, but this time threatened the USTR that they would not support the TPP “if the agreement, even an agreement in principle, is completed before TPA is enacted.”2 As mentioned in our article, fasttrack authority further distances the public from debate, thus ongoing discussions such as this one with Shaffer and Brenner are necessary to ensure the priority of health over trade, not only in the United States, but globally. Trade agreements that correspond with national and international public health laws, including the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, would help prioritize health over trade. This would not only assist in protecting public health in the TPP but also in other proposed US free trade agreements such as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the European Union. To provide long-term protection beyond the current TPP and TTIP negotiations (as well as for any new free trade agreement), the United States and other countries need to enact laws requiring trade agreements to conform to national and international public health laws. A tobacco carve-out is an important first step toward winning a broad public health carve-out that would protect health policies impacted by trade agreements, such as access to medicines3 and food safety.4 j
About the Authors Eric Crosbie is with the University of California, Santa Cruz. Mariaelena Gonzalez is with the University of California, Merced. Stanton A. Glantz is with the University of California, San Francisco. Correspondence should be sent to Eric Crosbie, MA, PhD Candidate, Politics Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064 (e-mail: [email protected]). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the “Reprints” link. This letter was accepted August 27, 2014. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302317
Contributors E. Crosbie prepared the first draft and prepared revisions to the letter. M. Gonzalez and S. A. Glantz prepared revisions to the letter.
Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by National Cancer Institute Grants CA-113710 and CA-61021 and grant number 20FT-0077 from the University of California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. The funding agencies played no role in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit it for publication.
References 1. AFP-Jiji. Obama pushes for TPP deal by November. The Japan Times. June 21, 2014. Available at: http:// www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/06/21/business/ economy-business/obama-pushes-for-tpp-deal-bynovember/ -. U_Vxh4BdUio. Accessed August 20, 2014. 2. Camp D. Letter from US House of Representatives to Michael Froman. July 17, 2014. Available at: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ tpp_tpa_letter_final.pdf. Accessed August 20, 2014. 3. Kessomboon N, Limpananont J, Kulsomboon V, Maleewong U, Eksaengsri A, Paothong P. Impact on access to medicines from TRIPS-Plus: a case study of Thai-US FTA. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2010;41(3):667---677. 4. Ni KJ. Does science speak clearly and fairly in trade and food safety disputes? The search for an optimal response of WTO adjudication to problematic international standard-making. Food Drug Law J. 2013;68 (1):97---114 ii-iii.
Eric Crosbie, MA Mariaelena Gonzalez, PhD Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
December 2014, Vol 104, No. 12 | American Journal of Public Health
Letters | e5
