health

Defending access to medicines in regional trade agreements: lessons from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

14-Jul-2021 Globalization and Health

This paper examines civil society and health actors’ views of the conditions that successfully contributed to the removal of these measures in RCEP, with a focus on intellectual property and access to medicines.

Fears junk food regulation chilled by free trade agreements

31-May-2021 Stuff

Efforts to combat child obesity have fallen behind the pack as international free-trade agreements threaten to put a “chill” on junk food regulations, experts say.

In memory of Heesob Nam, a patent attorney who fought against vaccine inequality until the end

31-May-2021 Kyunghyang

Heesob Nam, a patent attorney who dedicated his life to preventing the monopoly of ’intellectual property’ by a few, passed away on May 10th.

Corporate courts threat to insects

18-May-2021 The Ecologist

The shadowy parallel court system of major trade agreements makes it difficult for countries to ban broad-spectrum insecticides.

UK-Australia trade deal could mean children and patients eating meat reared in ways illegal in UK, warn experts

11-May-2021 The Independent

‘It would be grossly hypocritical for the government to allow unsustainable meat to be served in schools and hospitals,’ say critics

Growing trade ties bind India to Africa’s future

14-Apr-2021 MENAFN

India has stepped up its global ambitions and foreign policy re-engagement with African countries in recent years. India is now the third largest export destination and the fifth largest investor on the continent.

Intellectual property and COVID-19 medicines: why a WTO waiver may not be enough

25-Feb-2021 The Conversation

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the race to make vaccines and other useful technologies more accessible to people around the world, has once again highlighted the tension between intellectual property rights and the promotion of public health.

Brazil and Britain sign "Poison Memorandum"

19-Feb-2021 Brasil Wire

Brazil and the United Kingdom created a joint committee to facilitate the relationship in agribusiness.

Revealed: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban

16-Feb-2021 The Guardian

Internal USTR communications lay out how the agrochemical industry is “pushing” for the US to fold this issue into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Philip Morris to soon submit motion to intl arbitration in case of AMCU fine of UAH 1.2 bln

10-Dec-2020 Interfax

Philip Morris Ukraine, a large tobacco manufacturer, will file a motion with the ICSID in response to the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine on a UAH 1.2 billion fine.

Trump or Biden, trade deals still threaten Britain’s NHS

3-Nov-2020 Open Democracy

Whether a UK deal with an ’America First’ president, or Biden’s more traditional global trade stance, battles ahead are likely if Britain is to protect its NHS and avoid higher drug prices.

NHS should be on the table in UK-US trade talks, says senior US Senator

30-Oct-2020 City AM

American pharmaceutical companies should get access to the NHS in a UK-US trade deal, according to the chair of the Senate committee that approves trade agreements.

Stop corporations profiting from the pandemic. Stop ISDS.

20-Oct-2020 Friends of the Earth International

Our call to suspend all ISDS cases during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

Neoliberal obesity and coronavirus in Mexico

21-Sep-2020 Al Jazeera

American capital brought high rates of chronic disease to Mexico which has led to a surging COVID-19 death toll.

A new trend in trade agreements: Ensuring access to cancer drugs

17-Sep-2020 South Centre

People around the world need to be aware of precedents in recent trade agreements and ensure that they also work for access to medicines for their own citizens.

COVID-19 and the risk of foreign investor challenges

11-Sep-2020 National Magazine

Tensions are likely to surface between the public-policy directions of governments managing a challenging economic climate and foreign investors’ private interests.

Investor-state claims in era of COVID-19 pandemic

4-Sep-2020 International Law Office

With state measures in response to COVID-19 being compounded by an already difficult economic environment for investors, they may have little choice but to challenge those measures.

Investor-state disputes arising from COVID-19: balancing public health and corporate wealth

28-Aug-2020 Corrs Chambers Westgarth

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments globally are engaging in a difficult balancing act of protecting public health, mitigating economic damage and avoiding interference with private rights.