Litigating Diets: Exploring the Role of Strategic Litigation in Preventing Obesity and Diet-Related Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean

在过去几年里，拉丁美洲和加勒比国家越来越多地使用战略诉讼来反对或要求采取有效的政策措施，以促进更健康、可持续的食品环境和预防与饮食有关的疾病。这一诉讼的使用是在该地区实施或缺乏旨在防止超重、肥胖和与饮食相关的非传染性疾病(NCDs)增长的法律之后进行的，该地区58%的人口已经超重或肥胖。据估计，仅在南美，非传染性疾病就导致了至少23%的死亡。超重、肥胖和与饮食相关的疾病与不健康食品的消费增加有关，而这又与跨国食品公司(MFC)咄咄逼人的广告和营销策略有关。这些战略加速了从传统饮食向精加工饮食的“营养过渡”：MFC销售的几乎所有增长都发生在发展中国家和低收入和中等收入国家。因此，十多年来，国际社会一直呼吁采取行动遏制肥胖症的上升，特别是通过营养标签和食品营销立法等措施。在这种日益受到监管的环境中，公司利用诉讼指控侵犯了经济和宪法权利，包括财产权、经营权和商业言论自由权。他们还援引了植根于国际贸易和投资法的论点，特别是质疑有关措施的科学基础。与此同时，民间社会诉诸诉讼，迫使政府在缺乏或不充分监管的国家立法，并要求跨国公司遵守现有法律，通常是以公共健康和消费者保护以及儿童权利的名义。在此背景下，该项目将探讨诉讼如何被用作一种战略，以促进或阻止旨在预防肥胖和其他与饮食有关的疾病的政策的制定。通过研究涉及管理营养标签和包装前标签的战略性诉讼，以及向拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的儿童推销不健康食品，该项目将分析诉讼可能对拉丁美洲和加勒比国家的法律、政策和做法产生积极或消极的影响，塑造公共话语，加强或削弱社会运动。它还将促进关于法律和非传染性疾病预防的新兴文献，以及更具体地说促进更健康、更可持续的食品环境。

In the past few years, Latin American and Caribbean countries have witnessed an increased use of strategic litigation to either oppose or demand effective policy measures to promote healthier, sustainable food environments and prevent diet-related diseases. This use of litigation follows the implementation - or lack thereof - of laws intended to prevent growing overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) throughout the region, where 58% of the population are already overweight or obese. In South America alone, NCDs are the estimated cause of at least 23% of all deaths.Overweight, obesity and diet-related diseases are linked to an increased consumption of unhealthy food, which in turn is linked to aggressive advertising and marketing strategies of multinational food companies (MFCs). Such strategies accelerate the 'nutrition transition' from traditional to highly processed diets: virtually all growth in MFCs sales occurs in developing and low- and middle-income countries. As a result, the international community has, now for over a decade, called for action to halt the rise in obesity, and specifically for the adoption of nutrition labelling and food marketing legislation, among other measures.In the context of this increasingly regulated environment, companies have used litigation alleging breaches of economic and constitutional rights, including property rights, the right to conduct a business, and the right to freedom of commercial expression. They have also invoked arguments anchored in international trade and investment law, specifically questioning the scientific basis of the measures concerned. At the same time, civil society has resorted to litigation to pressure governments to legislate in countries where regulation is inexistent or insufficient, and to oblige MFCs to comply with existing laws, normally in the name of public health and consumer protection, as well as children's rights.Against this background, this project will explore how litigation is being used as a strategy to enable or prevent the development of policies intended to prevent obesity and other diet-related diseases. By studying strategic litigation involving the regulation of both nutrition labelling, and front-of-pack labelling more specifically, as well as the marketing of unhealthy food to children in Latin America and the Caribbean, this project will analyse the potential of litigation to affect, positively or negatively, laws, policies and practices, to shape public discourse, and to strengthen or weaken social movements in Latin American and Caribbean countries. It will also contribute to the emerging literature on law and NCD prevention, and the promotion of healthier, sustainable food environments more specifically.