Globalization's Impact on Public Health

Public health is affected by globalization.

Goods and foods are globally traded more frequently. In the USA from 1997 to 2007 food imports have risen from $36 to $70 billion annually. These movements increase the risk that food borne diseases can be travel rapidly from one part of the world to another. Food stocks can carry disease from one nation to another; an example is Mad Cow disease is a food based pathogen that was borne in processed beef and was transmitted to the other nations that imported the contaminated meat. People are also moving more frequently around the world. For example, from 1970 to 2010 international arrivals in all nations have increased from 150 million to 940 million people. Diseases borne by movement of people has

seen increase public health risks, such as the spread of SARS in the early part of the decade 2000. (The Levin Institute, 2016)

Trade agreements and globalization factors are making these trends impossible to stop.

The world has become interconnected to the extent that the food and goods we need could not be blocked unless nations first reorganized how domestic or selected nations would be able to replace these movements. That would mean trade agreements would have to be reworked and other logistical issues matched to such restrictions. I think governments can only take limited actions such as during times of uncertainty. One example is travel was made more restrictive during the time the SARS out-break occurred. Eventually the source and treatment for SARS disease was understood and restrictions were eased. Similar issues have occurred with food safety, such as nations restricting the importation of beef during a period of uncertainty with Mad Cow Disease. (The Levin Institute, 2016)

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are food products that are another increasing risk in the globalization of food movement. GMOs are changes to animal and plant through engineering changes at the genetic level to try and achieve some new productivity and other manufacturing advantage. Also, these changes can become intellectual property of the company that creates the GMO, and there by can create a market that becomes exclusive to certain food companies. (The Levin Institute,

2016)

The benefits may be higher yields to the producer, faster time to markets for producer or other desirable features that consumers want in their food products. The costs however may be an increase risk through the loss of biodiversity, higher costs from the owners of GMO intellectual property to food producers for the GMO food stocks like seeds, lack of alternatives for producers and consumers as engineered GMOs displace natural products that are shut out of the market, the possibility that all natural foods eventually get crossed with GMO plants and animals and all food then becomes impacted by GMO products. (The Levin Institute, 2016) My personal belief is that GMO are a problem as they are unproven sources of food and allow corporations to monopolize a basic human right.

Reference:

Health and Globalization. (2016) The Levin Institute The State University of New York. extract:http://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/109674/mod_book/chapter/82431/glob101healthandglob.pdf