International Policy, the Obesity Epidemic, and Social Justice: What Lessons Can we learn from the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control?

The global annual death toll from obesity and diet-related disease is estimated at 13.6 million people. As with tobacco-related illness, many countries least able to shoulder the health and financial burden of these diseases are poised to receive the brunt of the epidemic. By 2030, type 2 diabetes will have the greatest impact on developing countries, where the number of people with diabetes is expected to increase from 84 million to 228 million. The World Health Organization (WHO) has criticized food marketing that targets children. However, despite mounting evidence that it is a key vector of this preventable epidemic, there is not yet consensus among global public health officials on to how to limit direct marketing of unhealthy food to children. The world's first public health treaty, the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), offers guiding principles and precedents that may be applied to regulatory efforts aimed at reducing negative health consequences linked to the marketing of unhealthy foods to children. The session will describe the resulting global shift in tobacco control policy resulting from Article 13 of the WHO FCTC, which comprehensively bans the marketing of tobacco products to children. Examples of current regulations already in place to limit food marketing to children will also be discussed, along with their impact on reducing childhood obesity. The concluding discussion will focus on the current political climate and the potential for using the FCTC's ground-breaking legal precedent as a model for international law to help reverse the obesity epidemic.