nz Doctor : TPPA - be afraid, be vocal
Anas Alam Faizli
TPPA – be afraid, be vocal
I haven’t marched since we joined 100,000 others in Trafalgar Square in 1981 to protest against nuclear weapons.
We did lots of other stuff with meetings and education and declaring Banks Peninsula a nuclear weapon-free zone and several years later IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) got the Nobel Prize for peace so we were pretty chuffed about that.
But last Saturday I found myself back on the streets. It was in March that I first became aware of the TPPA (the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement). My sister-in-law in Northland regarded us incredulously when we declared our ignorance of this incredibly dangerous negotiation going on behind closed doors.
On reflection, it’s the very secrecy of it that is so alarming. When a Kiwi colleague at the “Preventing Overdiagnosis” conference in Oxford presented again on the TPPA, I looked closer and resolved to act.
Have a look at a website “It’s Our Future” to learn what’s afoot in more detail. For healthcare workers like us there are things that will affect our daily lives, and more importantly, our patients’ lives, especially those of our low-income patients.
This “agreement” is a free-trade agreement. Ultimately it’s designed to benefit the international corporations and their shareholders and don’t tell me you still believe in the trickle-down effect!
US approach extended
It extends the arm of an American approach to business where big money looks after itself and income disparity inexorably widens.
Just consider this: Under the agreement as it stands now, if the New Zealand Government tries to pass legislation which a corporation thinks will compromise its profitability, the corporation can prevent this happening.
Big Pharma already has issues with Pharmac and would put pressure on New Zealand to disband it. They are already taking Australia to court over their plain packaging of tobacco and they would seriously interfere with our efforts in New Zealand to reduce the consumption of tobacco and alcohol.
They would be able to sue our country if we passed legislation they considered to be against their interests. See the website – it goes into more researched detail than I can muster here.
New flag debate dominates
It is astonishing that none of this was debated in the lead-up to the recent general election and even now, wide coverage is given to the prospect of a new flag referendum while the quiet sale of our sovereignty goes on under wraps. 
Marches that happened on Saturday around the country had minimal media coverage. About 3000 people marched from Riccarton Road to Hagley Park in Christchurch and it was not even mentioned in the local papers.
March organisers predicted this. Given the big business owners of media companies, it is not in the media's interests to publicise protest when they stand to gain from the TPPA. I talked with many colleagues in advance of the event in Christchurch but did not recognise a single medic among the crowd. I’d like to think a few were there.
Please, have a look at the scary bits of the TPPA and talk with colleagues about it and then get questioning your MPs.
Related links
Health professionals say TPPA risks climate and health protection - OraTaiao: the New Zealand Climate and Health Council, 28 October 2014
Push for health check on trade deal before NZ signs up - NZ Doctor, 29 October 2014