This is backed up by a range of provisions in the WTO’s rules. For example, they allow countries to curb trade to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and conserve exhaustible natural resources. They allow subsidies for environmental protection. These provisions can be found in more general rules and in specific agreements on product standards, food safety, intellectual property protection, and so on.
Reforms under the rules, such as cutting industrial and agricultural support, help to reduce waste and environmental damage, and encourage efficient use of resources.
The same applies to health. Here, the greatest attention has been on pharmaceutical patents. The intellectual property (“TRIPS”) agreement is all about balance. In public health, it protects inventors’ rights for a limited period in order to encourage research into new and more effective treatments, but it also allows governments room to manoeuvre so that the treatments are affordable. Developing new medicines and allowing governments some flexibility both contribute to better health.