Editorial calls UN summit declaration underwhelming, lacking ambition, and reflective of industry interests

An Editorial published Online First in The Lancet Oncology describes the long-awaited declaration resulting from this week's UN Summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in New York, as a "watered-down document reflective of national and industry interests" that "lacks tangible targets", and "is a more politically correct declaration than a political declaration of war".

The Editorial stresses that despite the declaration recognising the fundamental conflict of interest between the tobacco industry and public health, other groups from the food and drink industry, whose products are important causes of NCDs, were invited to participate in the meeting.

"The declaration has clearly come under multiple pressures from governments and lobbyists resulting in a watered-down document reflective of national and industry interests. For example, emblematic figures have been excised, such as the aim to reduce salt intake to less then 5 g per day", claims the Editorial.

"Unsurprising, these industry representatives urged a voluntary, rather than regulatory approach. Rightly, one NCD advocate likened this to, 'letting Dracula advise on blood-bank security'."

The Editorial also highlights the glaring lack of compulsory global targets in the declaration: "The outcome document should have included a set of feasible actions and interventions with specific deadlines and indicators upon which progress can be measured… Instead, the document calls on WHO simply to set up a comprehensive global monitoring framework and prepare recommendations for voluntary—not compulsory—global targets before the end of 2012, and to report initial progress in 2013.This is a missed opportunity."

It concludes: "An opportunity to create political cohesion to tackle the biggest health challenge facing future generations has been missed. Although the declaration sets out the scale of the challenge, it lacks ambition and is more a politically correct declaration than a political declaration of war. Individual countries must now take bold steps to accelerate their responses beyond the slow timetable the UN proposes if real progress is to be made."