Ep 12: Why do corporations want a seat at the policy-making table?

Welcome to season two of Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco, the podcast where we explore the tactics used by the tobacco industry as it pursues profit over health.

This week, Louis is joined by Dr. Amber van den Akker and Dr. Nason Maani to discuss multistakeholderism - when the public sector collaborates with other sectors, including industry, to address issues of public importance. They examine why health-harming industries want a seat at the policy-making table, the implications of this on public health policy and where the tobacco industry fits in to all this.

Dr Amber van den Akker is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Bath’s Centre for 21st Century Public Health. She works as part of the Local Health and Global Profit research consortium. Her research explores pathways to address the commercial determinants of health, using a complex systems approach, with a focus on governance and the policy-making process.

Dr Nason Maani is a Senior Lecturer in Inequalities and Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh’s Global Health Policy Unit. His research focuses on the commercial determinants of health, seeking to describe the mechanisms through which commercial actors affect health inequalities, knowledge, and public discourse. Nason is the host of Money Power Health, a podcast series discussing the social and commercial forces that shape health.

Sources used in this episode include:

• https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daae165
• https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daae139
• https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-024-10593-0
• https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2024.8245
• https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q800
• https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12368
• https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102380

Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco is a weekly podcast from the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath. It is hosted by Louis Laurence, produced by Kate White and edited by Sacha Goodwin. The production manager is Jacqueline Oliver.

To get in touch, e-mail us at tobacco-admin@bath.ac.uk or find us on LinkedIn, Bluesky and X. Find more episodes here.

The views expressed in this episode by the podcast participants (host and guests) are their own and do not reflect the views of the University of Bath or any other affiliate groups.

For information on the Tobacco Control Research Group's funding sources please read the following statement: www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-information/centre-for-21st-century-public-health-statement-on-funding-sources

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