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Health harming industries are undermining action on Scotland’s worsening health, warn experts

• Tobacco, alcohol, and junk food giants are influencing public health policy 
• Scots are experiencing declining health which could be turned around  
• 88% of all deaths in Scotland are caused by NCDs (Noncommunicable diseases) but 1 in 6 of these could be prevented through public health action
• Polling shows public don’t trust industry involvement

Public health policies are under sustained influence by commercial actors linked to tobacco, alcohol, and junk food, according to a new report launched today by health charities, including British Heart Foundation Scotland, Obesity Action Scotland, ASH Scotland, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems and Alcohol Focus Scotland.

The report from Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance Scotland - a coalition of 26 health organisations – shines a spotlight on the commercial drivers of ill health at a time where progress to address Scotland’s health is stalling.  

Work to improve Scotland’s health is being watered down, delayed, or blocked altogether by the corporate sector through various tactics, as explored in the report.

It warns that commercial influence can weaken measures designed to reduce preventable illness and premature death and calls for stronger safeguards to ensure public health policy is developed in the public interest. 

The report aims to increase awareness amongst key stakeholders, including MSPs, Ministers, and Scottish Government, and contains practical recommendations on how policymakers can help ensure that Scotland’s public health is prioritised over industry profit. 

New polling published alongside the report also found that almost three quarters of people view these industries’ influence on public health decision-making negatively, while only 2% trust industry representatives to influence government decisions on public health.

Kym Kestell, Lead for NCD Alliance Scotland, said: “Our report highlights how industries linked to tobacco, alcohol and junk food use a well-established playbook of tactics to influence public health policy in Scotland. Tactics include challenging evidence of harm, funding favourable research, influencing evidence, and positioning themselves as legitimate stakeholders in public health, despite their clear conflicts of interest.

“The needs of Scotland’s health should never compete with the vested interests of health-harming industries. Yet, the evidence and examples in the report show that public health policies have been repeatedly delayed, undermined, and weakened and progress to improve Scotland’s health has stalled. If Scotland is serious about tackling preventable ill-health and reducing health inequalities, we must ensure that policy decisions are guided by evidence, have greater transparency, and have stronger safeguards that put people’s health before commercial interests.

“Scotland has a proud history of public health leadership yet much more needs to be done to address preventable death and the marked inequalities our communities face. Brave and bold leadership is needed and without stronger action on prevention, the health burden of NCDs is only set to increase over the coming years.”

Health Under Influence: The industry playbook behind Scotland’s preventable health harms’ warns of tactics used by health harming industries, to seek influence over public health policy and prioritise commercial interests.  

It pushes for more transparency in public health policy development, which should be protected from industries with conflicts of interest.

Many of the leading risk factors for preventable NCDs, which are diseases that include Scotland’s biggest killers like cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, lung disease and type 2 diabetes, are linked to the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy food and drinks.

Health-harming industries deploy various methods to drive the consumption of these products, using price, promotions, widespread availability and marketing and advertising. Actions to address these key drivers are often the policies that attract high levels of industry lobbying and opposition.  

Alongside the evidence review, NCD Alliance Scotland commissioned polling of 2,194 adults across Scotland, which found significant public concern about industry involvement in public health policymaking: 

• 70% believe the influence of tobacco, alcohol and HFSS (high fat, salt and sugar) industries on public health decision making is negative.
• Only 2% trust industry representatives to influence government decisions on public health.

Julie Cameron, Head of Obesity Action Scotland, said: “We welcome the publication of this important report and are proud to have contributed to it as part of NCD Alliance Scotland.  

 “For too long, the conversation around obesity has focused on individual choices while overlooking the commercial forces that expose children, families and communities to relentless marketing and promotion of products high in fat, sugar and salt, creating environments where the healthy choice is often the harder choice. 

 “This report shines a light on the tactics used by health-harming industries to delay, dilute and distract from effective public health action. The reality is that obesity is not simply the result of individual behaviour. It is driven by an obesogenic environment shaped by commercial interests and sustained through sophisticated marketing and influence.”

Carolyn Lochhead, CEO of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government has rightly declared a public health emergency on alcohol, and fifty people in Scotland die each week from alcohol related causes.

“Yet we continue to see the heavy footprint of industry lobbying, in the form of delayed action and mixed messaging. Health policy must be designed by health experts, not by industries that profit from the sale of products that damage our health. The Government should reaffirm its commitment to putting the health of our nation before the profit of industry.”

Dr Alastair MacGilchrist OBE, Chair of SHAAP (Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems), said: “The tactics set out in this report will be familiar to anyone who has worked on alcohol policy in Scotland. Public Health Scotland has confirmed that alcohol marketing is pervasive and persuasive, that it drives consumption, and that self regulation does not work - yet four years on from the Scottish Government’s consultation, we are still waiting for legislation. With more than three people dying an avoidable death from alcohol every day, decisions about how we reduce that harm should be informed by independent evidence and by those with no commercial stake in the outcome.”