Main description:

When corporations claim the same citizenship rights as human citizens, they exercise an undue influence on health policy and democratic processes. Surprisingly, the same basic repertoire of tactics has been found to be employed by corporations to effect this influence, regardless of the specific industry at work. In this book, authors from around the world reveal the range of tactics used across the corporate world that ultimately favor the bottom line over the
greater good.

The Bottom Line or Public Health deconstructs some of the most ubiquitous tactics at play, including public relations, political influence, legal maneuvering, and financial power, using the pharmaceutical, food and agriculture, tobacco, alcohol, and motor vehicle industries as illustration. However, there is a growing global movement to counter this corporate force. The book discusses the role of non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples' groups, health advocates, and social
justice activists, and the ways in which they are working to reduce corporate power and put control of policy back in the hands of individuals. The Bottom Line or Public Health is for scholars interested in studying the corporate entity, and for individuals and organizations who want to reclaim democracy for
human citizens so that health is placed above the bottom line.

Contents:

Part 1: Introduction
Chapter 1: The Corporation: An overview of what it is, its tactics and what public health can do
William H. Wiist

Chapter 2: Corporations, Public Health and the Historical Landscape that Defines Our Challenge
Shelley K. White

Part 2: Corporate Tactics
Chapter 3: Limited Liability and the Public's Health
Lainie Rutkow and Stephen P. Taret

Chapter 4: Public Relations and Advertising
Diane Farsetta

Chapter 5: Lobbying, the Revolving Door, and Campaign Contributions.
The Center for Responsive Politics

Chapter 6: The Tobacco Industry
Ruth E. Malone

Chapter 7: The Pharmaceutical Industry
David Egilman & Emily Ardolino

Chapter 8: The Motor Vehicle Industry
Leon S. Robertson

Chapter 9: The Alcohol Industry: Alcohol industry interests, global trade agreements and their impact on public health
Donald Zeigler

Chapter 10: Food and Agriculture Industry
Judith A. Pojda

Part 3: Tactics to Counter the Corporation
Chapter 11: Using Charters to Redesign Corporations in the Public Interest
Charlie Cray

Chapter 12: A New Democracy in Action
Mari Margil

Chapter 13: Legal Strategies: You Are What They Say You Are Eating
Stephen Gardner & Kate Campbell

Chapter 14: Anti-corporate Social Movements: A Global Phenomenon
Thomas E. Mertes

Chapter 15: Labour Movement Strategies to Address Corporate Globalisation
Jane Lethbridge

Chapter 16: Campaigns to Change Health Damaging Corporate Practices
Nicholas Freudenberg

Chapter 17: Public Health Infrastructure
Rene Jahiel

Chapter 18: Indigenous Peoples' Movements
Raymundo D. Rovillos

Chapter 19: The New Politics of Consumption: Promoting Sustainability in the American Market Place
M.J. Cohen, A. Comrov, & B. Hoffner

Chapter 20: Spiritual Activism and Liberation Spirituality: Pathways To Collective Liberation
Claudia Horwitz and Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey

Appendix