Corporations and the Health of the Public

The first, by Weishaar et al., analyzes how the media represent the tobacco, alcohol, and food industries in their coverage of public health debates on chronic diseases. The second, by Parra et al., examines how the automobile, construction, and entertainment industries contribute to the rise of physical inactivity, a major contributor to global premature deaths and preventable illnesses. The third article, by Baum et al., proposes a methodology for assessing the health impact of specific transnational corporations on workers, consumers, and the environment. “The business and political practices of corporations are a major social determinant of health and health inequality”, said Dr. Freudenberg. “These articles suggest frameworks for the empirical investigations that can provide the evidence to inform policies to modify harmful practices.”

Weishaar H, Dorfman L, Freudenberg N, Hawkins B, Smith K, Razum O, Hilton S. Why media representations of corporations matter for public health policy: a scoping review. BMC Public Health. 2016;16:899. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5006262/pdf/12889_2016_Article_3594.pdf

Parra DC, de Sá TH, Monteiro CA, Freudenberg N. Automobile, construction and entertainment business sector influences on sedentary lifestyles. Health Promot Int. 2016 Aug 25. pii: daw073. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27561906

Baum FE, Sanders DM, Fisher M, Anaf J, Freudenberg N, Friel S, Labonté R, London L, Monteiro C, Scott-Samuel A, Sen A. Assessing the health impact of transnational corporations: its importance and a framework. Global Health. 2016;12(1):27. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4908801/pdf/12992_2016_Article_164.pdf