Article:
“Globalisation has led to increased environmental threats; the marginalisation of local communities; increased migration; urbanisation; land use patterns which affect the soil, deforestation, monoculture, soil depletion, and loss of biodiversity; pollution of the seas and farmlands from chemicalised agriculture; resource depletion; malnutrition; and the curative emphasis in health care and public health with increased reliance on technologies like drugs, vaccines, and chemicals. Integration of markets has resulted in new products and new lifestyles especially toxic products like tobacco, alcohol, contaminated foods, junk foods, dangerous medicines, the trafficking in drugs, organ trade, antipersonal landmines, light weapons, pornographic materials and the like. These developments have far reaching implications on the spread of disease and public health.

Clearly the effects of the global economy have been devastating for societies everywhere… Poverty has increased and the gap between the rich and poor have widened; unemployment is a fact of life; communities have disintegrated; traditional family structures have broken down, there is more homelessness and destitution, violence in all forms is escalating; environmental problems and diseases are beyond control.

Increasingly peoples have come to recognize that this system is not working; where people are devalued and life has no social meaning; where institutions are given unbridled powers to facilitate corporations to accumulate and concentrate wealth and immiserate the lives of the majority. They are reacting against this system demanding changes and seeking alternatives: that foster justice and equity; happiness and fulfillment; promote ecological principles, values of cooperation, community, love, caring, and respect for life and diversity.

Many citizen groups and individuals are now working together in various networks and coalitions to bring about change at different levels.”
- http://www.phmovement.org/pubs/issuepapers/hong23.html

Reflections:
Although there have been global level initiatives such as a full review of the WTO agreements and their impact on social, environmental and health policies to help combat problems caused by globalization, it seems that they have been relatively futile and that globalization continues to have a negative impact on human health, both mental and physical.

As mentioned in the article, “increased migration, urbanization, land use patterns which affect the soil, deforestation, monoculture, soil depletion, and loss of biodiversity, pollution of the seas and farmlands from chemical agriculture; resource depletion, malnutrition, and the curative emphasis in health care and public health with increased reliance on technologies like drugs, vaccines, and chemicals” have resulted from globalization, mainly through industrialization. Activities such as land use patterns which affect the soil, deforestation, and soil depletion, loss of biodiversity, pollution and resource depletion have a direct negative impact on the environment and a secondary impact on human health. For example, too much air or noise pollution may severely and irreversibly damage a person’s hearing and toxic chemical air pollution can also cause blindness. Water pollution can inflict many diseases, for instance by promoting mosquito breeding, such as malaria and dengue or may even result in death upon direct consumption or use, especially in rural third world countries. Furthermore, to combat there diseases new drugs and vaccines are brought into the country which are often misused.

Products like “tobacco, alcohol, dangerous medicines and drugs, light weapons, pornographic materials and the like” are also smuggled into the country with the same excuse. Things like these not only affect people’s physical health, with addiction to tobacco causing many different types of cancer, alcohol sometimes resulting in fatal drunk driving, and similarly addiction to other drugs may be harmful, but they also have a negative impact on a persons mental health, such as addiction to pornographic materials posted on the web and stress from unemployment due to the tremendous competition in the work industry.

Human health is really at stake when it comes to globalization. In fact, expansion of global cigarette exports is a dramatic example, totaling 223 billion cigarettes in 1975 and rising to 1.1 trillion cigarettes in 1996 (a 5-fold increase)! Other adverse health effects include the health of child laborers in third world countries such as Pakistan (who produce many of the disposable surgical instruments that are increasingly used in US hospitals). These children have poor living and working conditions and low pays as their bosses are only concerned with their profits and are thus highly susceptible to diseases and deteriorating health.

Every year globalization causes many deaths. In fact it is responsible for perhaps 14 to 18 million deaths a year (18% of total deaths) worldwide, which includes deaths from toxic exposures in poor countries as US corporations evade environmental restraints at home. One such example occurred 15 years ago in Bhopal, India, where 5 tons of poisonous methyl isocyanate gas leaked into the air from a Union Carbide pesticide plant, killing more than 3,000 people.

As mentioned in the article, globalization increases income gaps between the rich and the poor. Researches have shown that population health in rich countries is determined primarily by the size of the gap between rich and poor. The United States has the greatest wealth and income gap of any rich country, which is the main explanation for its dismal health ranking among developed countries (where it came 25th, behind all rich countries and even some poor countries).

Another reason behind this is that globalization also gives rise to advancements in technology, with technology being shared worldwide in today’s borderless world. Increased convenience in human life due to the technology available is demanding a lot more from man today. With a lot more work on mind many people tend to ignore important activities such as exercise and having proper healthy meals which are very important for their health. This is also why many rich countries, the US for example, face severely high obesity rates, with a huge number of people undergoing surgery for it each year.

All this just goes to show how globalization has yet again let us down in another one of its aspects because health is probably the most important human ‘possession’ and globalization is deteriorating even that.

-Sadia-

Biblio:
http://members.aol.com/tiermensch/pollutionhearing.html
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1070886
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/28/059.html
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/122702_globalization.cfm
http://www.pcdf.org/1996/16korten.htm
http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3783/3924/33225.aspx
http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/2/1/11

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