The tremendous protests in Seattle will definitely impact the WTO's future. The WTO was formed to create a global market free of restrictions designed to protect the environment, working conditions and public health and safety. It is a nonelective body that meets in secret and can invalidate laws created by sovereign members. While individual countries can challenge the WTO, cases are heard by three trade bureaucrats, usually corporate lawyers. There are no rules concerning conflicts of interest.
Judges meet in secret at undisclosed locations and times.
Documents are kept confidential, closed to public scrutiny. In some instances, free formula samples have been supplied new mothers in sufficient quantity to guarantee that when the supply is gone, their breast milk will have dried up. In 1968, Guatemala passed legislation prohibiting false advertising. All foreign and domestic manufacturers of infant formula and baby food complied, with the exception of Gerber's, who fought the legislation until 1993, when all legal appeals were exhausted. US and European pharmaceutical corporations learned an important lesson from Gerber's victory.