Eliminate trade barriers
========================

* J.M. Dubé

The collapse of the WTO meeting in Cancun1 in September has exposed the gross disadvantage that African, Caribbean and Asian countries have endured for decades. The promise of the benefits of so-called free trade, and the absolute certainty of the trickle-down theory, so enthusiastically proclaimed by economics gurus, have been frustrated by new protectionist barriers erected to replace the more blatant ones of the colonial period.

Under these conditions, the socio-economic determinants of health, so obvious to even the most casual observer, remain intractable impediments to good health for millions of people. The suicide of South Korean farmer Lee Kyung-Hae should convince us that unfair trade practices kill and maim people just as effectively as bombs, land mines and other conventional methods of warfare.

Nonreciprocal free access to the markets of the advanced countries of the north would be a useful first step toward the accumulation of capital, so vital for poor countries to achieve their economic take-off.

Poor countries in 2004 need to nurture their economies just as rich countries needed to do in the past when they were at a corresponding level of economic development. In fact, the QUAD (the United States, European Union, Japan and Canada) have protected their agricultural sectors enormously in the past 50 years, and still continue to do so.

Canada as an influential member of the QUAD can do much in the WTO to promote the phased elimination of tariff and nontariff barriers to exports from developing countries. To add to our credibility, we can initiate this measure within Canada. Fortunately our economy is strong enough to withstand a structural adjustment program of the type that has often been imposed on those countries, but without the devastating effects seen in them.

Health For All remains the elusive goal declared at Alma Ata. We can contribute something concrete toward its realization. Healthy, productive human beings with adequate incomes create trading partners that safeguard our security and our own economic well-being.

**J.M. Dubé** Physician Nanaimo, BC 

## Reference

1.  1. Talk failures: food and fair trade [editorial]. CMAJ 2003;169(9):893.
    
    [FREE Full Text](http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/ijlink/YTozOntzOjQ6InBhdGgiO3M6MTQ6Ii9sb29rdXAvaWpsaW5rIjtzOjU6InF1ZXJ5IjthOjQ6e3M6ODoibGlua1R5cGUiO3M6NDoiRlVMTCI7czoxMToiam91cm5hbENvZGUiO3M6NDoiY21haiI7czo1OiJyZXNpZCI7czo5OiIxNjkvOS84OTMiO3M6NDoiYXRvbSI7czoyMjoiL2NtYWovMTcwLzIvMTc0LjQuYXRvbSI7fXM6ODoiZnJhZ21lbnQiO3M6MDoiIjt9)