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Review
. 2022 Mar;31(2):291-295.
doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-056561.

Litigation in tobacco control: past, present and future

Suzanne Zhou  1 , Evita Ricafort  2 , Davi Bressler  3 , Rachel Kitonyo Devotsu  4
Affiliations
Review

Litigation in tobacco control: past, present and future

Suzanne Zhou et al. Tob Control. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

This paper reviews progress in tobacco litigation since Tobacco Control's founding 30 years ago, with a focus on cases which are ongoing or recently decided. Litigation in tobacco control falls into several classes: legal challenges brought by the tobacco industry to block implementation of tobacco control measures, public interest litigation brought by civil society to push for higher standards of implementation of tobacco control measures and liability litigation by governments and individuals to hold the tobacco industry accountable for the harm it causes. In each class of cases, there are a number of major case studies which show the importance of international frameworks, including most significantly the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to tobacco litigation.

Keywords: global health; human rights; litigation; tobacco industry.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: SZ, ER and RKD report that the McCabe Centre is a WHO FCTC Knowledge Hub on Legal Challenges and a WHO Collaborating Centre for Law and Non-communicable Diseases, and receives funding from the Australian government for these functions. The McCabe Centre has provided technical support to many of the countries involved in the litigation commented on in this article. DB reports that he is part of the legal team in the Attorney General’s Office in the healthcare cost recovery litigation that Brazil has launched against tobacco manufacturers.

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