The FTAA: Health Hazard for the Americas?

This article analyzes how the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) would likely exacerbate critical threats to health in the Americas, from the perspectives of public health and human rights. These threats include crises in access to health care, water, and other vital human services; reemerging but preventable fatal diseases; the advance of AIDS; and biohazards. Disparities in power, wealth, health spending, and infant mortality, that undermine equity between and within nations, are documented and analyzed. A case study from Peru proposes that further market liberalization would widen inequalities in health and health care. Major arguments for and against trade liberalization in health care are presented. Under the FTAA, countries’ domestic regulations, including those proven effective in advancing and protecting public health, could be challenged in international trade tribunals as unnecessary barriers to trade. Assigning regulatory decisions to trade tribunals violates the democratic obligations and rights of local, state, and national elected officials to protect public health. Addressing health crises is a high priority for the Americas and requires effective, cooperative international efforts.