Clark Sarah E, Hawkes Corinna, Murphy Sophia M E, Hansen-Kuhn Karen A, Wallinga David
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Int J Occup Environ Health. 2012 Jan-Mar;18(1):53-65. doi: 10.1179/1077352512Z.0000000007.
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions, in the United States as well as among its trade partners such as Mexico. It has been established that an "obesogenic" (obesity-causing) food environment is one influence on obesity prevalence. To isolate the particular role of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, in changing Mexico's food environment, we plotted the flow of several key products between the United States and Mexico over the 14-year NAFTA period (1994-2008) and situated them in a broader historical context. Key sources of USDA data include the Foreign Agricultural Service's Global Agricultural Trade System, its official repository for current and historical data on imports, exports and re-exports, and its Production, Supply, and Distribution online database. US export data were queried for agricultural products linked to shifting diet patterns including: corn, soybeans, sugar and sweeteners, consumer-oriented products, and livestock products. The Bureau of Economic Analysis' Balance of Payments and Direct Investment Position Data in their web-based International Economic Accounts system also helped determine changes in US direct investment abroad from 1982 to 2009. Directly and indirectly, the United States has exported increasing amounts of corn, soybeans, sugar, snack foods, and meat products into Mexico over the last two decades. Facilitated by NAFTA, these exports are one important way in which US agriculture and trade policy influences Mexico's food system. Because of significant US agribusiness investment in Mexico across the full spectrum of the latter's food supply chain, from production and processing to distribution and retail, the Mexican food system increasingly looks like the industrialized food system of the United States.
肥胖已达到流行程度，在美国及其贸易伙伴如墨西哥皆是如此。业已证实，“致胖性”（导致肥胖的）食物环境是影响肥胖流行率的一个因素。为了厘清北美自由贸易协定（NAFTA）在改变墨西哥食物环境方面所起的具体作用，我们绘制了在NAFTA实施的14年期间（1994 - 2008年）美国和墨西哥之间几种关键产品的流动情况，并将其置于更广泛的历史背景中。美国农业部数据的主要来源包括外国农业服务局的全球农业贸易系统，这是其关于进口、出口和再出口的当前及历史数据的官方存储库，以及其生产、供应和分配在线数据库。我们查询了美国出口数据中与饮食模式转变相关的农产品，包括：玉米、大豆、糖和甜味剂、面向消费者的产品以及畜产品。经济分析局基于网络的国际经济账户系统中的国际收支和直接投资头寸数据也有助于确定1982年至2009年美国对外直接投资的变化。在过去二十年中，美国直接或间接地向墨西哥出口了越来越多的玉米、大豆、糖、休闲食品和肉类产品。在NAFTA的推动下，这些出口是美国农业和贸易政策影响墨西哥食品系统的一个重要方式。由于美国农业综合企业在墨西哥整个食品供应链的各个环节都进行了大量投资，从生产、加工到分销和零售，墨西哥的食品系统越来越类似于美国的工业化食品系统。
