Abstract
BackgroundTobacco companies use a host of strategies to undermine public health efforts directed to reduce and eliminate smoking. The success, failure and trends in domestic litigation used by tobacco companies to undermine tobacco control are not well understood, with commentators often assuming disputes are trade related or international in nature. We analyse domestic legal disputes involving tobacco companies and public health actors in high-income countries across the last decade to ascertain the types of action and the success or failure of cases, develop effective responses.MethodsWorldLii, a publicly available online law repository, was used to identify domestic court cases involving tobacco companies from 2004 to 2014, while outcome data from LexisNexis and Westlaw databases were used to identify appeals and trace case history.ResultsWe identified six domestic cases in the UK, Australia and Canada, noting that the tobacco industry won only one of six cases; a win later usurped by legislative reform and a further court case. Nevertheless, we found cases involve significant resource costs for governments, often progressing across multiple jurisdictional levels.DiscussionWe suggest that, in light of our results, while litigation takes up significant time and incurs legal costs for health ministries, policymakers must robustly fend off suggestions that litigation wastes taxpayers' money, pointing to the good prospects of winning such legal battles.
Highlights
Tobacco corporations manufacture and distribute products that, when used as intended, will kill half their users.[1]
We identified six domestic cases in the UK, Australia and Canada, noting that the tobacco industry won only one of six cases; a win later usurped by legislative reform and a further court case
While the majority of the world’s governments are signatories to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), most still have far to go to implement these policies.[5]. One reason for this slow progress is because tobacco companies aggressively seek to thwart these public health efforts; tactics which the parties to the FCTC consider its greatest barrier to implementation.[6,7]
Summary
Tobacco corporations manufacture and distribute products that, when used as intended, will kill half their users.[1] Tobacco control measures typically seek to reduce smoking initiation, especially in children, and promote cessation among users.[2] Effective measures, set out in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), include restrictions on marketing and availability, requirements to provide information, such as health warnings, and measures to increase price and regulate composition.[3] Recent reports suggest that at least 2.3 billion people are covered by at least one tobacco control measure.[4] While the majority of the world’s governments are signatories to the FCTC, most still have far to go to implement these policies.[5] One reason for this slow progress is because tobacco companies aggressively seek to thwart these public health efforts; tactics which the parties to the FCTC consider its greatest barrier to implementation.[6,7] For example, tobacco companies support misleading research[8,9] and devote vast resources to lobbying against any legislation that might reduce their sales.[10,11,12] They develop elaborate public relation campaigns, emphasizing personal choice and individual responsibility. We analyse domestic legal disputes involving tobacco companies and public health actors in high-income countries across the last decade to ascertain the types of action and the success or failure of cases, develop effective responses
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