Scientists Identify Corporate Structure as Bad for Public Health

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PANUPS: Scientists Identify Corporate Structure as Bad for

Public Health

 

 

Scientists Identify Corporate Structure as Bad for Public Health

November 15, 2004

 

Corporate power is a major cause of health problems, according to the

October/December 2005 special issue of the International Journal of

Occupational and Environmental Health. Contributions to the issue

reveal how corporate structure results in pressure to influence

science and place the public at risk from pesticides, lead, asbestos,

toxic municipal sewage sludge, and other harmful substances.

 

" Occupational and environmental health diseases are in fact an outcome

of a pervasive system of corporate priority setting, decision making,

and influence, " state guest editors David Egilman and Susanna Rankin

Bohme. " This system produces disease because political, economic,

regulatory, and ideological norms prioritize values of wealth and

profit over human health and environmental well-being. "

 

Skip Spitzer, Program Coordinator at PAN North America and a

contributing author to the journal notes that, " In market economies,

private corporations play such a decisive role in the economic sphere

that they are often able to secure more rights than people.

Corporations deeply influence politics, law, media, public relations,

science, research, education and other institutions. It's no surprise

that corporate self interest routinely supersedes social and

environmental welfare. "

 

In his article " A Systemic Approach to Occupational and Environmental

Health " , Spitzer describes how corporations are part of a " structure

of harm " , meaning that the very way in which corporations are

structured produces social and environmental problems and undermines

reform. The pressure to compete in the marketplace and create demand

for their products creates incentives for corporations to shape the

political system, the mass media, and science for commercial ends.

Corporations use this power to avoid taking responsibility for the

larger environmental and social impacts of their actions (or

" externalities " ), including the public health impacts of developing

dangerous new technologies. Spitzer quotes Reagan administration

economist Robert Monks describing the corporation as " an externalizing

machine, the same way that a shark is a killing machine - no

malevolence...just something designed with sublime efficiency for

self-preservation, which it accomplishes without any capacity to

factor in the consequences to others. "

 

This " structure of harm " creates incentives for corporations to seek

political influence over institutions designed to protect and serve

the public good. Corporations often use this power to influence

scientific debates so as to avoid regulation and litigation. " Science

is a key part of this system, " note Egilman and Bohme, " there is a

substantial tradition of manipulation of evidence, data, and analysis

ultimately designed to maintain favorable conditions for industry at

both material and ideological levels. " Independent scientists whose

findings counter corporate interests often face pitched battles to

obtain funding, publish their research, and gain academic tenure.

 

The corporate " structure of harm " undermines health protections not

only domestically, but also by influencing the international

agreements and treaties that shape the global economy. In her article

" Who's Afraid of National Laws? " , Erika Rosenthal, a frequent

consultant to PAN in North, Central and South America, identifies how

pesticide corporations are using trade agreements to block proposed

bans on pesticides identified as the worst occupational health hazards

in Central America. Through privileged access to closed-door

negotiations, agrichemical corporations inserted deregulatory

mechanisms into the draft Central American Customs Union and the

Central American Free Trade Agreement. These agreements undermine

health-based national pesticide registration requirements, weaken

health ministries' role in pesticide control, block marketing of

cheaper and less toxic pesticides, and have a chilling effect on

future pesticide regulation. Rosenthal argues that as long as

corporations have privileged access to trade negotiations and civil

society is excluded, the resulting agreements will benefit special

interests at the expense of public health.

 

The editors conclude that corporate corruption of science is

widespread and touches many aspects of our lives, as indicated by the

range of articles in the issue. In " Genetic Engineering in Agriculture

and Corporate Engineering in Public Debate " , Rajeev Patel, Robert

Torres, and Peter Rosset analyze Monsanto's efforts to convince the

public of the safety of genetically modified crops. Other articles

describe how industry pressure on government agencies such as EPA have

influenced cancer research and resulted in approving toxic municipal

sewage sludge as crop fertilizer.

Corporate corruption of science represents a real threat to the health

and well-being of people and to the environment the world over. " The

negative social impacts of corporate structures deserve a concerted

response on the part of conscientious public health researchers, " note

Egilman and Bohme. Spitzer sees this analysis as a call for

researchers to join movements working for fundamental change of

corporate structure and power. " We need to build bigger, more

integrated social movements with the popular wherewithal to make deep

change, " he states. " This means combining multiple issues, connecting

local work nationally and internationally, and building long-term

change goals into action for more immediate change. "

 

Source: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental

Health, http://www.ijoeh.com/

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