271733 Healthy food and agricultural systems and the corporate-government alliance

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 12:47 PM - 1:04 PM

Steve Wing, PhD , School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
     
For many rural populations the fundamentals of public health, including safe air, water, jobs, food, and housing, are shaped by agriculture. Occupational and environmental hazards from industrialized agriculture threaten rural people, especially communities of color and low wealth, while industrial foods impact nutritional diseases globally. Food and environmental justice could help ameliorate the negative side-effects of agriculture, reduce threats to environmental and occupational health, and promote reduced health equity. Advancing public health requires confronting corporations that wield great influence in government, academe and popular culture and that profit from the current disease-producing food and agriculture system.

Learning Areas:
Environmental health sciences
Occupational health and safety
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe relationships between industrial agriculture and environmental injustice; 2. Identify several examples of how agribusiness attempts to co-opt public health research; and 3. Explain why public health researchers should strengthen their ties with movements for environmental justice and food justice.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Steve Wing received his Ph.D. in epidemiology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he is currently an associate professor. Recent work has focused on environmental injustice and health effects of ionizing radiation, industrial animal production, sewage sludge, and landfills. He has collaborated on health and exposure studies with communities and workers impacted by threats to environmental and occupational health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5181.0: Food, Fairness and Health II: Occupy Agriculture – Corporate Power, Equity and the Food System