It is time for legal action to recover health care costs from the tobacco industry
Australia’s 2011 precedent-setting plain packaging legislation1 reinforced the country’s reputation within the tobacco industry as “the darkest market in the world”.2 The country’s commitment to tobacco control, and a declining national smoking rate that is among the lowest in the world should not, however, mislead the public or policy makers into a mistaken belief that tobacco is done.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- 1. Department of Health. Plain packaging of tobacco products. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2016. http://www.health.gov.au/tobaccopp (accessed June 2017).
- 2. Imperial Brands. Investor day. Transcript — quality growth: returns and growth — markets that matter. Imperial Brands, 2016. http://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/content/dam/imperial-brands/corporate/investors/presentations/investor-day/2016/Transcript%204%20-%20Markets%20that%20Matter.pdf.downloadasset.pdf (accessed June 2017).
- 3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Risk factors to health. Tobacco smoking. Canberra: AIHW, 2017. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/biomedical-risk-factors/risk-factors-to-health/contents/tobacco-smoking (accessed June 2017).
- 4. Banks E, Joshy G, Weber MF, et al. Tobacco smoking and all-cause mortality in a large Australian cohort study: findings from a mature epidemic with current low smoking prevalence. BMC Medicine 2015; 13: 38.
- 5. Australian Bureau of Statistics. National Health Survey: first results, 2014–15 [website]. Smoking (Cat. No. 4364.0.55.001). Canberra: ABS, 2016. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.001∼2014-15∼Main%20Features∼Smoking∼24 (accessed June 2017).
- 6. Collins DJ, Lapsley HM. The costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse to Australian society in 2004/05. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2008. https://www.health.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/Content/34F55AF632F67B70CA2573F60005D42B/$File/mono64.pdf (accessed Sept 2017).
- 7. Australian Senate. Official Committee Hansard. Community Affairs Legislation Committee: estimates; 19 October, 2016 (p 124). Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia; 2016. http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/4650dd36-4d76-41ee-8c11-5e0e508d3cb6/toc_pdf/Community%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2016_10_19_4519_Official.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/estimate/4650dd36-4d76-41ee-8c11-5e0e508d3cb6/0002%22 (accessed June 2017).
- 8. Bonevski B, Borland R, Paul CL, et al, No smoker left behind: it’s time to tackle tobacco in Australian priority populations. Med J Aust 2017; 207: 141-142. <MJA full text>
- 9. Freeman B. Challenging how tobacco is sold in Australia. Med J Aust 2017; 207: 417-418.e1.
- 10. Davey M. Tobacco industry “should be sued by government” over smokers’ health costs. The Guardian 2015; 25 February. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/25/tobacco-industry-should-be-sued-by-government-over-smokers-health-costs (accessed June 2017).
- 11. Public Health Law Center, Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Tobacco control litigation. Public Health Law Center, 2017. http://publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/tobacco-control/tobacco-control-litigation (accessed June 2017).
- 12. Kalra A, Bansal P, Wilson D, Lasseter T. Exclusive: documents reveal Philip Morris’ campaign to subvert the world’s anti-smoking treaty. Reuters 2017, 13 July. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pmi-who-fctc-tobacco-exclusive-idUSKBN19Y1DN (accessed July 2017).
- 13. Glenza J. Tobacco companies interfere with health regulations, WHO reports. The Guardian 2017, 19 July. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/19/tobacco-industry-government-policy-interference-regulations (accessed July 2017).
- 14. Attorney-General’s Department. Tobacco plain packaging — investor-state arbitration [website]. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2012. https://www.ag.gov.au/tobaccoplainpackaging (accessed June 2017).
- 15. World Health Organization, Tobacco Free Initiative. International tribunal upholds states’ rights to protect health through tobacco control. Geneva: WHO, 2016. http://www.who.int/tobacco/communications/news/international-legal-tribunal-states-right-to-protect-health/en (accessed June 2017).
- 16. Reuters. Tobacco industry suffers defeat as WTO upholds Australia’s plain packaging laws. The Guardian 2017, 5 May. https://www.theguardian.com/global/2017/may/05/australias-defeats-wto-challenge-to-plain-packaging-of-tobacco (accessed July 2017).
- 17. World Health Organization. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Geneva: WHO, 2005. http://www.who.int/fctc/en (accessed June 2017).
- 18. British Columbia. Tobacco litigation. http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/keeping-bc-healthy-safe/tobacco-vapour/tobacco-litigation (accessed July 2017).
- 19. University of California, San Francisco Library. Truth Tobacco Industry Documents. 2017. https://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco (accessed June 2017).
- 20. Shanahan L. Roxon sizes up lawsuit against Big Tobacco companies. The Australian 2011, 14 December. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/roxon-sizes-up-lawsuit-against-big-tobacco-companies/news-story/41d20e27a3b5d68319b7843031c06d88 (accessed Sept 2017).
- 21. Department of Finance. Budget 2016–2017 [website]. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2017. http://budget.gov.au/2016-17/content/glossies/tax_super/html/tax_super-05.htm (accessed June 2017).
- 22. Turnbull M, MP. Small Business Breakfast with Steve Irons MP. 15 June 2016. https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/small-business-breakfast-with-steve-irons-mp (accessed June 2017).
Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.
Ross MacKenzie is supported by the National Cancer Institute, US National Institutes of Health, grant no. R01-CA091021.
No relevant disclosures.