What, if anything, is wrong with the World Trade Organisation - Essay Example

The WTO has been cited by some as not taking a proactive approach to evaluating the health issues affected by its agreements, lacking a formal in-house body to regulate the impact of trade on global health (Kimball 2006, p.189). This pertains especially to issues when dealing with imports of beef that have contained traces of mad-cow disease or simply when products are questioned by participating members as being linked to a potential health hazard. The suggestion of WTO critics is that the World Trade Organisation merely relies on its Dispute Settlement process that is only effective after a health situation has arisen and does not have a system in place that scientifically examines potential health consequences of trade agreements to the indigenous population that is receiving goods.

This could be true of the WTO, but contributing literature suggests that the WTO consists of several regulating bodies that do, indeed, maintain particular expectations for notification of trade modifications. For example, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Committee within the WTO aggressively analyse animal and plant safety using internationally-developed standards to assess potentially hazardous trade items. After carefully examining the World Trade Organisation website, it would seem that the core of the WTO consists of a multitude of regulating committees that are each assigned a specific task, often dealing with proactive issues.

It is often the practice of humans to attempt to locate an entity with which to point the proverbial finger when it comes to assigning blame for health issues. In the case of the WTO, it would seem that these allegations for taking a less-proactive stand on health issues in global trade are virtually unfounded. The WTO has also been criticised for its inability to enforce its members agreements. When China ( a rapidly emerging