London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
U.S. Right to Know.
Milbank Q. 2019 Mar;97(1):74-90. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12368. Epub 2019 Jan 29.
Policy Points There is growing understanding of how manufacturers of harmful products influence health policy. The strategies, approaches, and influences from such manufacturers that are detrimental to health have been termed the "corporate" or "commercial" determinants of health. However, while partnerships with the tobacco industry are clearly unacceptable for public health organizations, ties to other industries continue to be pursued. Such partnerships may influence health organizations in a number of ways detrimental to population health. However, with the exception of tobacco industry tactics as revealed by internal documents, we know relatively little about how this influence operates. This article uses emails between the Coca-Cola Company and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which we obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, to explore the nature of corporate influence, conflicts of interest, and lobbying "in their own words," and highlights the need for greater transparency and clearer policies on engaging with such industries.
There is a continuing debate about the appropriateness of contacts between manufacturers of some harmful products and health researchers, as well as practitioners and policymakers. Some argue that such contacts may be a means of exerting undue influence, while others present them as an opportunity to pursue shared health goals. This article examines interactions between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) as revealed by communications obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
We sent 10 US FOIA requests in 2016/2017 for communications between employees at the CDC and Coca-Cola. We then performed a thematic content analysis of the documents provided.
Of our 10 FOIA requests, 3 requests are still pending (at the time of this publication); 5 were rejected as too broad or because no records were found; and 3 returned 295 pages from 86 emails. The CDC withheld 102 pages to "protect commercial or financial information which is privileged or confidential." The returned emails demonstrate three main themes in Coca-Cola's contact with CDC employees: to gain and expand access, to lobby, and to shift attention and blame away from sugar-sweetened beverages.
The emails we obtained using FOIA requests reveal efforts by Coca-Cola to lobby the CDC to advance corporate objectives rather than health, including to influence the World Health Organization. Our findings provide a rare example of the ways in which corporate interests attempt to influence public health practitioners "in their own words," and they demonstrate a need for clearer policies on avoiding partnerships with manufacturers of harmful products.
政策要点 人们越来越了解有害产品制造商如何影响卫生政策。这些制造商损害健康的策略、方法和影响被称为“企业”或“商业”健康决定因素。然而，虽然与烟草行业的合作显然是不可接受的公共卫生组织，与其他行业的联系仍在继续。这种伙伴关系可能会以多种方式影响卫生组织，从而损害人口健康。但是，除了内部文件揭示的烟草行业策略外，我们对这种影响的运作方式知之甚少。本文使用我们通过《信息自由法》请求获得的可口可乐公司与美国疾病控制与预防中心之间的电子邮件，从“他们自己的话”中探讨了企业影响力、利益冲突和游说的性质，并强调了在与这些行业合作时需要更大的透明度和更明确的政策。
关于一些有害产品制造商与卫生研究人员以及从业者和政策制定者之间的接触是否合适，一直存在争议。一些人认为，这种接触可能是施加不当影响的一种手段，而另一些人则将其视为追求共同健康目标的机会。本文通过《信息自由法》（FOIA）请求获得的通讯，审查了疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）和可口可乐公司（可口可乐）之间的相互作用。
我们于 2016/2017 年向美国 10 个 FOIA 请求发送了 10 个 US FOIA 请求，用于员工之间的通信。疾病控制与预防中心和可口可乐。然后，我们对提供的文件进行了主题内容分析。
在我们的 10 个 FOIA 请求中，有 3 个请求仍在等待中（在本出版物发布时）；5 个因过于宽泛或未发现记录而被拒绝；3 个返回了 86 封电子邮件中的 295 页。疾病预防控制中心扣留了 102 页以“保护商业或财务信息，这些信息是特权或机密的”。返回的电子邮件表明，可口可乐公司与疾病预防控制中心员工联系的三个主要主题是：获得和扩大准入、游说以及将注意力和责任从含糖饮料转移开。
我们通过 FOIA 请求获得的电子邮件显示，可口可乐公司试图游说疾病预防控制中心推进公司目标，而不是健康目标，包括影响世界卫生组织。我们的发现提供了一个罕见的例子，说明企业利益如何试图以“他们自己的话”影响公共卫生从业者，并且表明需要制定更明确的政策来避免与有害产品制造商建立伙伴关系。
