Toward product-based regulation of crops.

Current process-based approaches to regulation are no longer fit for purpose.

The relationship between joining a US free trade agreement and processed food sales, 2002-2016: a comparative interrupted time-series analysis.

Objective: To examine changes in sales of highly processed foods, including infant formulas, in countries joining free trade agreements (FTAs) with the US.

Design: Annual country-level data for food and beverage sales come from Euromonitor International. Analyses are conducted in a comparative interrupted time-series (CITS) framework using multivariate random-effects linear models, adjusted for key confounders: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, percent of the population living in urban areas and female labor force participation rate.

Addressing NCDs: Protecting Health From Trade and Investment Law Comment on "Addressing NCDs: Challenges From Industry Market Promotion and Interferences".

Building on Tangcharoensathien and colleagues' description of four tactics used by the tobacco, alcohol, processed food, and breast milk substitute industries to interfere with the development and implementation of health policies, we present a fifth tactic: trade and investment disputes. We describe recent examples of trade and investment claims filed by the tobacco industry to challenge plain packaging legislation, which may serve as a model for future claims by this and other industries. Next, we clarify specific areas of potential conflict between non-communicable disease (NCD) control policies and trade and investment agreement (TIA) commitments, identifying possible vulnerabilities that may be exploited by industry to challenge the legality of these policies.

World Trade Organization membership and changes in noncommunicable disease risk factors: a comparative interrupted time-series analysis, 1980-2013.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the availability of several commodities with both harmful and protective effects for the development of noncommunicable diseases.

Methods: We used a natural experiment design to compare trends in the domestic supply of tobacco, alcohol and seven food groups, between 1980 and 2013, in 21 countries or territories joining WTO after 1995 and 26 non-member countries, using propensity score weights. We applied a comparative interrupted time-series framework, by using multivariate random-effects linear models, adjusted for gross domestic product per capita, the percentages of urban population and female labour force participation.