ISDS Case Map
health
“We welcome the High Court decision as a vindication of the Government’s right to regulate tobacco as an addictive substance that still kills 15,000 Australians per year,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, said today.
Smoking is bad for our health.
Smoking is detrimental to our economic well-being - smoking-related conditions and diseases cost the health service in this country millions and millions of dollars each year. But moves to reduce or stop smoking in this country could cost us just as much if not more.
A study done by research group IBON showed that a free trade deal with the European Union (EU) will lead to poorer access to health services and more unaffordable medicines as well as undermine government revenues including public health spending.
Just on the day when the government suspended its decision on FDI in the retail sector, a report by United Nations’ Working Group on Human Rights in India pointed that the country’s free trade agreements (FTA) threaten the rights to food, health, work and development, especially of vulnerable groups.
The Federal Government's plain packaging laws for cigarettes have now passed both houses of Parliament but are facing their first legal challenge.
With the passage of the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), the American medical industry expects to widen its opportunities to establish for-profit hospitals in South Korea in addition to limiting domestic authority to close them once they are established, according to a report by the US Department of Commerce released Sunday.
Australia leads the world in many areas of public health but the Federal Government could be negotiating our achievements away, according to Dr Patricia Ranald, Convenor, Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
Lobbyists for the alcohol industry are threatening to use New Zealand's free trade agreements against government proposals to restrict products targetting young drinkers
Civil society groups say a leaked document from regional free trade negotiations between countries bordering the Pacific Ocean shows the United States favouring giant pharmaceutical companies at the expense of public health.
Tobacco giants are invoking investor-state dispute mechanisms in bilateral investment agreements to challenge moves of governments which are aimed at controlling the widespread use of tobacco products. This scary development highlights the dangers of signing trade or investment treaties which could give corporations the right to sue governments over legitimate health or other public interest regulations.
