Newcastle University academics fear that the UK's post-Brexit decision to join one of the world's largest free trade agreements could threaten public health.
The academics, writing in the British Medical Journal, said the Government should carry out an "health impact assessment" before signing the deal, which they said could lead to a weakening of food safety standards. Other impacts suggested include that the deal could see high medicine prices due to provisions and that it could compromise situations where the "precautionary principle" is used to make laws to protect public health - such as when it comes to regulation of alcohol and tobacco.
However, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has rebuffed concerns, claiming they are "dangerous and false".
The Government maintained that, food standards would not be affected and that, for example, hormone-treated beef, would remain banned in the UK. It also said it does not believe joining the trade deal - featuring 11 other countries including Canada, Australia and Japan - would limit its ability to make laws.
Lead author Dr Courtney McNamara said: "Free trade agreements hold promise of economic growth in the form of lower consumer prices and new export and employment opportunities. But, like most free trade deals, this new one has important implications for public health.
"For example, it is likely to make it more difficult to enact policies to cut consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy food and drinks through clauses that allow foreign corporations to contest any such regulations. Let’s say the UK opts to restrict or regulate the marketing of vapes to children, or to ban the advertising of alcohol near schools, this deal allows foreign corporations to oppose these rules."
The DBT denied that the deal would "hinder our right to regulate in the public interest" and said this was "a right recognised in international law".
The article itself highlights how the controversial investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) - previously used by tobacco firm Philip Morris International in an expensive, but ultimately unsuccessful, lawsuit against the Australian state about plans to remove branding from cigarette packets - could have "a chilling effect on public health policies, with policy makers unwilling to consider public health measures that could lead to expensive legal proceedings".
The article continues: "Although this does not in itself provide corporations with veto power over a proposed regulation, it does create new opportunities for health harming industries to influence public health standard setting."
Dr McNamara added it was vital the Government undertook a formal health impact assessment, saying: "To our knowledge, no national evaluation has been done to account for implementation costs with respect to changes in regulatory and dispute settlement rules.
"None of the maths amounts to enough justification for the UK to enter into a long-term agreement that could imperil the health of our people. If a priority of the government is to do no harm, a commitment made explicit during Brexit negotiations, then it should take account of the health implications of its trade policies."
In response to Governmental criticism of the article, the authors also highlighted that their findings had been published in a highly-regarded and peer-reviewed journal. Dr McNamara added: "Without a health impact assessment, we don’t which parts of the economy, which parts of the country and which people will be impacted. A health assessment will help inform future actions which can both promote and protect public health."
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: "The analysis published by the BMJ is false and dangerous and should be immediately disregarded.
"Protecting the NHS is a fundamental principle of our trade policy and we have ensured that the NHS, its services, and the cost of medicines were not on the table in our negotiations. We have also been clear that the UK’s accession to CPTPP will not compromise on our already robust food safety standards."
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