Challenges to State and Local Public Health Laws from International Trade Agreements

Most public health law innovation in the U.S. has historically occurred at the state and local levels, where governments can respond more quickly and flexibly to emerging public health threats than the federal government.  In recent years, state and local governments have led the way in developing innovative policy approaches to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, which now account for 88% of total deaths in the U.S.  However, aggressive policy responses aimed at NCDs inevitably threaten the interests of well-funded industries that produce products such as tobacco, alcohol, soda, and fast food.   

Increasingly, multinational corporations are using international trade agreements to challenge public health laws that threaten their profits.  In particular, the tobacco industry has been aggressive in using trade challenges—or the threat of such challenges—to deter countries from enacting tobacco control measures.  Although to date most such disputes have focused on national laws, numerous bilateral and regional free trade agreement also give individual companies the ability to challenge state and local laws that allegedly violate free trade commitments (typically through an international arbitration process).  

This presentation will discuss how international trade agreements might be used to challenge state and local public health laws and how public health practitioners can engage in the ongoing debate about the role of public health in such agreements.  The continuing negotiations over the investor-state dispute resolution elements of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership make this an important and timely topic.