Garrett Brown gdbrown@igc.org

The multi-section APHA Working Group on Trade and Health had a high profile at the Philadelphia Annual Meeting in December 2005 and several dozen more APHA members have signed up with the ad-hoc formation to broaden its work and impact.

The Working Group, formed at the November 2004 Washington, D.C., Annual Meeting, held an open business meeting, a four-section scientific session and a conference-wide special session on the public impact of international trade agreements. More than 70 APHA members signed up to join the Working Group's efforts to further organize APHA members and to play an ever-expanding role as health professionals in legislative debates and public education campaigns.

More than 1,000 conference participants attended the Tuesday morning "special session," one of only four sessions at that time period, which was devoted to the impact of trade and trade agreements on public health globally. Two members of the Working Group - Ellen Shaffer of the Medical Care Section and Marty Makinen of the International Health Section - spoke with a third speaker, Nils Daulaire. The special session reflected the debate within and outside of APHA about whether "free trade," and the international agreements that set its rules, advance or are a threat to public health.

Makinen and Daulaire were generally in favor of corporate-led globalization and free trade agreements as a means generating wealth in poor countries, while Shaffer was highly critical of the adverse impact on key public health parameters - access to care and medicines, enforcement of health-protective regulations, and national sovereignty to establish laws and policies to protect public health. Over the last decade, APHA has passed several policy positions on trade that express the association's deep concerns about the detrimental impact of trade pacts on public health around the world.

At the separate scientific session on trade, speakers from four APHA sections - Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs, Environment, Medical Care and Occupational Health and Safety - presented case studies of how trade agreements have adversely affected public health. Garrett Brown represented the OHS Section, which also sponsored the session, and Brown spoke about how the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has completely failed to protect workplace health in Mexico, Canada or the United States.

Plans for 2006 were discussed at the Working Group business meeting, including further outreach within APHA to involve more sections, state affiliates and individual members. At present seven sections and three state affiliates are represented in the Working Group, which should expand as the 70 APHA members who signed up for more information become integrated in Working Group activities. The planned activities include an APHA Web site to display key information and conference presentations, section newsletter articles and business meeting presentations, presentations at state affiliate meetings, and additional articles in the association's journal and newspaper. In addition, the Working Group plans to channel members' interest and time into the ongoing public education and legislative lobbying campaigns around specific trade agreements and trade impacts in general. APHA is already working to include public health professionals in the critical "advisory committees" to the U.S. government's trade negotiating arm. Currently the more than 20 advisory committees are filled with corporate lobbyists while public health is represented by no more than three professionals among the dozens of lobbyists and lawyers.

The exact structure of the Working Group may change over the next several months as the APHA Task Force on reorganization clarifies its recommendations adopted in Philadelphia. Following the December meeting, the chair of the Working Group passed from the OHS Section (Garrett Brown) to the Medical Care Section (Kristen Smith), but Brown will remain as coordinator of the monthly conference calls.

There is a lot of work to be done, both within APHA and reaching out to the general public, so any OHS Section member interested in the trade issue is heartily encouraged to sign up with the Working Group. Please contact either Working Group chair Kristen Smith at ksmith@cpath.org or Garrett Brown at gdbrown@igc.org.