There is no evidence that self regulation by industry or public-private partnerships helps to prevent the harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and highly processed food and drink, a damning international analysis has found.

The study, published in the Lancet, said industry should have no role in the formation of policy on non-communicable diseases as there is no evidence to support such an approach.1 Instead, regulation or the threat of regulation, is the only way to achieve change.

The study, published as part of a series on non-communicable diseases, concludes that international corporations are major drivers of non-communicable disease epidemics through aggressive marketing of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink. In addition, the “unhealthy commodity” industries use …