ABSTRACT
When the major international organizations were set up some 50 years ago after the end of World War II, the founders recognized this linkage. The original General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was instituted in 1947 and still remains an integral part of GATT 1994, includes provisions for countries to apply measures "necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health" if they do not unjustifiably discriminate between countries where similar conditions prevail or act as a disguised restriction on international trade (2). The World Health Assembly in 1949 called attention "to the need for eliminating quarantine restrictions of doubtful medical value which interfere with international trade and travel" (3). Therefore, there is a reciprocal understanding that health must be protected over and above business interests, but that health protection measures should not intrude on commerce without justifications (4).
