Showing papers by "Jeff Collin published in 2017"

Can public health reconcile profits and pandemics? An analysis of attitudes to commercial sector engagement in health policy and research

Abstract: Background Public health’s terms of engagement with unhealthy commodity industries (alcohol, tobacco and ultra-processed food and drinks) have become increasingly contested in policy and research. We sought to identify approaches that could attract consensus support within and across policy domains. Methods Using snowball sampling, we undertook an online survey of 335 health researchers, advocates and policymakers, in 40 countries, assessing responses to stated principles, claims and recommendations for engaging with unhealthy commodity industries in relation to key policy and research initiatives. Results Most respondents identified a fundamental conflict between industry interests and public health objectives for all three industries, with agreement greatest in relation to tobacco and weakest for food. This pattern was replicated across diverse questions regarding potential forms of engagement, including in rejecting voluntarism and partnership approaches to health policy. While awareness of tobacco industry tactics to influence policy and research was higher than for alcohol and food, most respondents rejected the view that the influence of the latter was less significant for public health. Proposals that health and research organisations should divest their funds attracted less support with respect to food, while restricting publication of industry-funded research in academic journals was the issue that most divided opinion. Respondents reported most difficulty in answering questions about the food industry. Conclusions The strong consensus around restricting interactions with the tobacco industry supports increased implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s conflict of interest provisions. There is strong support for the extension of such practices to the alcohol industry, challenging current norms. More mixed responses indicate a need for greater clarity in defining the food industry, and for research analyzing links, similarities and differences across different types of unhealthy commodity producers. Partnership approaches to addressing non-communicable diseases seem incapable of attracting widespread support across public health, challenging practice in many contexts.

‘A preferred consultant and partner to the Royal Government, NGOs, and the community’: British American Tobacco’s access to policy-makers in Cambodia

Abstract: British American Tobacco Cambodia (BATC) has dominated the country's tobacco market since its launch in 1996. Aggressive marketing in a weak regulatory environment and strategies to influence tobacco control policy have contributed to an emerging tobacco-related public health crisis. Analysis of internal tobacco industry documents, issues of BATC's in-house newsletter, civil society reports and media demonstrate that BATC officials have successfully sought to align the company with Cambodia's increasingly controversial political and business leadership that is centred around the Cambodian People's Party with the aim of gaining access to policy-makers and influencing the policy process. Connections to the political elite have resulted in official recognition of the company's ostensible contribution to Cambodia's economic and social development and, more significantly, provided BATC with opportunities to petition policy-makers and to dilute tobacco control regulation. Corporate promotion of its contribution to Cambodia's economic and social development is at odds with its determined efforts to thwart public health regulation and Cambodia's compliance with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

'Half-cut' science: A qualitative examination of alcohol industry actors' use of peer-reviewed evidence in policy submissions on Minimum Unit Pricing

Abstract: Aim: To assess the extent to which alcohol industry actors cited evidence in submissions to the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee’s 2011 call for written evidence on the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill and to compare any citations of peer-reviewed evidence to original sources. Methods: All submissions to the consultation (n=128) were manually searched to identify those written by alcohol industry actors (n=25). The reference lists of all the alcohol industry submissions were reviewed and peer-reviewed sources were retrieved, read and assessed against their in-text citation within the alcohol industry submissions. Results: Although most industry submissions cited evidence of some sort, only 7 (28%) cited peer-reviewed evidence. Comparing the total number of citations to peer-reviewed evidence (n=17) to original sources demonstrates that 82% were questionably cited. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that the majority of references to peer-reviewed evidence in this sample of alcohol industry policy submissions were misleading with examples of citations being presented as supportive of arguments that the original evidence source specifically argued against. This suggests that even the depiction of peer-reviewed evidence within alcohol industry policy submissions needs to be treated with caution.