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Bioethics in the MarginsAuthor: Kirk Johnson and Amelia Barwise
Who we are: We are a collaborative of bioethics scholars interested in creating a more inclusive space to explore topics relevant to bioethics and the medical humanities while advancing equity and social change/restitution. Although we found our shared interests through our membership in the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Race Affinity Group, we are independent of ASBH and any other organization. The views expressed in this podcast are our own and the speakers and do not represent our employers, institutions, or professional societies. Mission: Bioethics in the Margins aims to include topics, guests and audiences who are not always highlighted in mainstream bioethics discourse. We will focus on structural inequity and the role bioethics can play in social change. We aim to move beyond traditional bioethics frameworks and intentionally draw on intersectionality, social justice, racial justice, disability ethics, women, LGBTQ ethics, and topics specific to Black, immigrant/refugee, Native American, Latinx populations. Hosts: Kirk Johnson, Amelia Barwise Team Members: Gargi Pandey, Creative Director; Madeline Mahoney, Sound Editor; Wendy Jiang, Social Media Manager; Nicolle Strand, Advisor; Liz Chuang, Producer Language: en Genres: Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Commercial Determinants of Health
Episode 1
Monday, 23 February, 2026
Season 9 is off to an exceptionally strong start with our recent discussion with Dr. Nicholas Freudenberg, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Health at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health. Dr. Freudenberg is Senior Faculty Fellow and co-founder of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute (www.cunyurbanfoodpolicy.org). He is a leading expert in Commercial Determinants of Health, authoring two key books in the field; At What Cost: Modern Capitalism and the Future of Health (Oxford, 2021) and Lethal but Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health (Oxford, 2014 and 2016). He was a contributor to the landmark Lancet series on the topic: https://www.thelancet.com/series-do/commercial-determinants-health.Commercial Determinants of Health can be understood as the ways that market actors influence health and disease globally. Commercial Determinants of Health are related to Social Determinants of Health and Political Determinants of Health, which together form a system that influences patterns of human health and disease. The term developed in the early 2000s, emerging from an earlier concept of Corporate Determinants of Health, recognizing that a small number of multinational global corporations dominate the world economy. Dr. Freudenberg explains that changing behavior of businesses and corporations can achieve public health gains at a much greater scale that traditional individual behavioral change approaches, citing successful policies regulating the tobacco industry and smaller gains changing the business opportunities to favor alternatives to the fossil fuel industry. One of the largest commercial determinants of health is the food industry, where there are multiple opportunities for change. Dr. Freudenberg discusses the importance of coordination between activists and public health professionals to counterbalance the influence of corporations on policy. What is the role of bioethicists? Listen and find out! Bibliography:https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-052220-020447https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00011-9/abstracthttps://global.oup.com/academic/product/at-what-cost-9780190078621?cc=us&lang=en&https://global.oup.com/academic/product/lethal-but-legal-9780199937196?cc=us&lang=en&
