The Trans-Pacific Partnership — Is It Bad for Your Health?

Several leaked chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement indicate that it could have a substantial effect on health, largely by increasing the costs of medications in both low-income and high-income countries. International trade deals once focused primarily on tariffs. As a result, they had little direct effect on health, and health experts could reasonably leave their details to trade professionals. Not so today. Modern trade pacts have implications for a wide range of health policy issues, from medicine prices to tobacco regulation, not only in the developing world but also in the United States. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is a case in point. A massive trade deal now reportedly on the verge of completion, the TPP has nearly 30 chapters. A draft chapter on intellectual property (IP) alone runs 77 . . .