Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T11:13:11.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tobacco Control Litigation: Broader Impacts on Health Rights Adjudication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Oscar A. Cabrera  and
Juan Carballo
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

There is perhaps no area of law that so effectively protects human health and thereby advances the right to the highest attainable standard of health, as tobacco control. Globally, tobacco is responsible for 1 in 10 adult deaths, and is on track to kill 10 million people per year, mostly in developing countries, representing a US$200 billion drain on the global economy. Yet experience in recent decades has shown that a range of tobacco control measures, such as comprehensive bans on smoking in public places, tobacco taxes, and limits on tobacco advertising, can greatly reduce smoking prevalence. These measures have slowly curtailed the epidemic, despite strong opposition from various sectors led by the tobacco industry. It is fitting that tobacco control is the focus of a recent, widely ratified global treaty (the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) and of increasing national litigation, often directly linked to countries’ human rights commitments.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , Spring 2013 , pp. 147 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

“Tobacco Control,” Pan American Health Organization (April 2011), available at <http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=1281&Itemid=1187&lang=en> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, June 16, 2003, available at <http://whqlib-doc.who.int/publications/2003/9241591013.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
Murli Deora v. Union of India and Others, W.P. No. 316/1999, Judgment of February 11, 2001 (Supreme Court of India).Google Scholar
Colombian Constitutional Court, Expediente D-8096 – Sentencia C-830/10, 2010, at 28.Google Scholar
Sieder, R. Schjolden, L., and Angell, A., eds., The Judicialization of Politics in Latin America (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006): at 3.Google Scholar
Sweet, A. S., Governing with Judges: Constitutional Politics in Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).Google Scholar
See Sieder, , supra note 5.Google Scholar
Hirschl, R., Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Flood, C. M. and Chen, Y. Y., “Charter Rights & Health Care Funding: A Typology of Canadian Health Rights Litigation,” Annals of Health Law 19, no. 3 (2010): 479–526.Google Scholar
Gloppen, S. and Roseman, M. J., “Introduction: Can Litigation Bring Justice to Health?” in Yamin, A. E. and Gloppen, S., eds., Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011): at 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gostin, L., “Global Regulatory Strategies for Tobacco Control,” JAMA 298, no. 17 (2007): 2057–2059.Google Scholar
Muller, F. and Wehbe, L., “Smoking and Smoking Cessation in Latin America: A Review of the Current Situation and Available Treatments,” International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease 3, no. 2 (2008): 285–93, at 285.Google Scholar
Bollyky, T. and Gostin, L., “The United States' Engagement in Global Tobacco Control: Proposals for Comprehensive Funding and Strategies,” JAMA 304, no. 23 (2010): 2637–2638.Google Scholar
Novotny, T. and Carlin, D., “Ethical and Legal Aspects of Tobacco Control,” Tobacco Control 14, Supp. 2 (2005): ii26i–i30.Google Scholar
“It is the poorer and the poorest who tend to smoke the most. Globally, 84% of smokers live in developing and transitional economy countries.” “Tobacco and Poverty: A Vicious Circle,” Tobacco Free Initiative, World Health Organization (2004), at 3, available at <www.who.int/tobacco/resources/publications/wntd/2004/en/index.html> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
Cabrera, O. and Gostin, L., “Human Rights and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Mutually Reinforcing Systems,” International Journal of Law in Context 7, no. 3 (2011): 285–303, at 286.Google Scholar
“Updated Status of the WHO FCTC Ratification and Accession by Country,” Framework Convention Alliance (August 2010) available at <www.fctc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=401:updated-status-ofthe-who-fctc-ratification-and-accession-by-country-afghanistan-and-cote-divoire&catid=173:general&Itemid=200> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
Cabrera, O. and Gostin, L., “Human Rights and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Mutually Reinforcing Systems,” International Journal of Law in Context 7, no. 3 (2011): 285–303, at 287.Google Scholar
CEDAW Committee, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Argentina, CEDAW/C/ARG/CO/6 (July 13 2010): ¶ 39–41; CESCR, Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on Argentina, E/C.12/ARG/CO/3 (December 2 2011): ¶ 23.Google Scholar
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, December 18, 1979, available at <http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw.htm> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
CEDAW Committee, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Argentina, CEDAW/C/ARG/CO/6 (July 13, 2010): ¶ 39–40.Google Scholar
CESCR, Concluding Obser vations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on Argentina, E/C.12/ARG/CO/3 (December 2, 2011): ¶ 7.Google Scholar
O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Tobacco Industry Strategy in Latin American Courts – A Litigation Guide (2012), at 16.Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, Jaime Barco Rodas contra el Artículo 3° de la ley N. 28705 – Ley general para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco, unconstitutionality proceeding, July 2011. ¶ 67.Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, Jaime Barco Rodas contra el Artículo 3° de la ley N. 28705 – Ley general para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco, unconstitutionality proceeding, July 2011. ¶ 69.Google Scholar
Constitutional Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court. Request on the constitutionality of a proposed piece of legislation. Exp: 12-002657-0007-CO. Res. N° 2012–003918, March 2012.Google Scholar
Vlaamse Liga tegen Kanker (Flemish Anti-Cancer League), et al. v. Belgium Council of Ministers, Arrêt n° 37/2011 du 15 mars 2011, Constitutional Court of Belgium (2011).Google Scholar
Cabrera, O. and Gostin, L., “Human Rights and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Mutually Reinforcing Systems,” International Journal of Law in Context 7, no. 3 (2011): 285–303, at 286.Google Scholar
Cabrera, O. and Madrazo, A., “Human Rights as a Tool for Tobacco Control in Latin America,” Salud Pública de México 52, Supp. 2 (2010): S288–97.Google Scholar
Id., at S290.Google Scholar
Id., at S292; Jacobson, P. and Soliman, S., “Co-Opting the Health and Human Rights Movement,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 30, no. 4 (2002): 705–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, supra note 23, at 11.Google Scholar
Cabrera, O. and Madrazo, A., “Human Rights as a Tool for Tobacco Control in Latin America,” Salud Pública de México 52, Supp. 2 (2010): S288–97, at S291.Google Scholar
Id., at S292.Google Scholar
Id., at S294.Google Scholar
Gloppen, S., “Litigation as a Strategy to Hold Governments Accountable for Implementing the Right to Health,” Health and Human Rights 10, no. 2 (2008): 21–36, at 22.Google Scholar
United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, available at <http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
Reddy, K. S. and Gupta, P. C., eds., Report on Tobacco Control in India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization (November 25, 2004), at 180–87, available at <http://mohfw.nic.in/WriteReadData/l892s/911379183TobaccocontroinIndia_10Dec04.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).Google Scholar
Ramakrishnan and Others v. State of Kerala and Others, O.P. No. 24160/1998-A, Judgment of Feb. 12, 1999, ¶ 25 (Supreme Court of India) (unreported).Google Scholar
See Reddy, and Gupta, , eds., supra note 38, at 180–187.Google Scholar
Murli Deora v. Union of India and Others, W.P. No. 316/1999, Judgment of Feb. 11, 2001 (Supreme Court of India).Google Scholar
Complaint for Clínica de Interés Público del Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Educación, Clínica de Interés Público del Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Educación v. Cámara de Senadores del Congreso de la Unión, Juzgado Primero de Distrito en Materia Administrativa en el Distrito Federal [Administrative Trial Court] (Mex.) (2008).Google Scholar
Mexican Supreme Court of Justice, Jorge Francisco Balderas Woolrich, revised amparo 315/2010 against 1791/2008, 28/03/2011, at 8.Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, Jaime Barco Rodas contra el Artículo 3° de la ley N. 28705 – Ley general para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco, unconstitutionality proceeding, July 2011.Google Scholar
Vierdag, E. W., “The Legal Nature of the Rights Granted by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 9, no. 69 (1978): 69–105.Google Scholar
Minta, M., “Justiciability of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in the Inter-American System of Protection of Human Rights: Beyond Traditional Paradigms and Notions,” Human Rights Quarterly 29, no. 2 (2007): 431–459, at 431.Google Scholar
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, New York and Geneva (2005).Google Scholar
Christiansen, E. C., “Using Constitutional Adjudication to Remedy Socio-Economic Injustice: Comparative Lessons from South Africa,” UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 13, no. 369 (2009): 371–405.Google Scholar
Gloppen, S. Gargarella, R., and Skaar, E. Democratization and the Judiciary: The Accountability Function of Courts in New Democracies (London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2004): at 135.Google Scholar
Gloppen, S., “Litigation as a Strategy to Hold Governments Accountable for Implementing the Right to Health,” Health and Human Rights 10, no. 2 (2008): 21–36, at 22; Hunt, P., Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, A/HRC/7/11/Add.3 (March 5, 2008).Google Scholar
Bergallo, P., “Argentina. Courts and the Right to Health: Achieving Fairness Despite “Routinization” in Individual Coverage Cases?” in Yamin, A. E. and Gloppen, S., eds., Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011): 43–75, at 56.Google Scholar
O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Tobacco Industry Strategy in Latin American Courts – A Litigation Guide (Georgetown Law: O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, 2012).Google Scholar
Vlaamse Liga tegen Kanker (Flemish Anti-Cancer League), et al. v. Belgium Council of Ministers, Arrêt n° 37/2011 du 15 mars 2011, Constitutional Court of Belgium (2011).Google Scholar
Christiansen, E. C., “Using Constitutional Adjudication to Remedy Socio-Economic Injustice: Comparative Lessons from South Africa,” UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 13, no. 369 (2009): 371–405.Google Scholar
Dennis, M. and Stewart, D., “Justiciability of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Should There be an International Complaints Mechanism to Adjudicate the Rights to Food, Water, Housing, and Health?” The American Journal of International Law 98, no. 3 (2004): 462–515.Google Scholar
International Commission of Jurists, Courts and the Legal Enforcement of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Comparative Experiences of Justiciability, Human Rights and Rule of Law Series No. 2 (2008): at 86.Google Scholar
High Court of Uganda at Kampala, British American Tobacco Ltd. v. The Environmental Action Network Ltd., Civil Appl. no. 27/2003, (2003).Google Scholar
FCTC: Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, foreword ¶ 1 (2005).Google Scholar
Id., at preamble, ¶ 5.Google Scholar
Id., at art. 8, ¶ 1.Google Scholar
See Gloppen, , supra note 50, at 23.Google Scholar
Ferraz, O. M., “The Right to Health in the Courts of Brazil: Worsening Health Inequities?” Health and Human Rights 11, no. 2 (2009): 33–46, at 40.Google Scholar
Constitutional Court of South Africa, Soobramoney v. Minister of Health (Kwazulu-Natal) 1998 (1) SA 765 (CC), at 29.Google Scholar
Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación [CSJN] [National Supreme Court of Justice], 1/6/2000, “Asociación Benghalensis y otros c/ Ministerio de Salud y Accion Social- Estado nacional s/amparo ley 16.986,” (A. 186. XXXIV) (Arg.).Google Scholar
Argentine National Law No 23798, art 8: the professionals that detect human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or having grounds to believe that an individual is a carrier, shall inform the character infectious-contagious of the virus, the ways and means to transmit it and their right to receive adequate assistance (unofficial translation for this article).Google Scholar
Alwan, A., ed., Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases 2010. Chapter 4 Reducing Risks and Preventing Disease: Population-wide Interventions, World Health Organization (2011), available at <http://www.who.int/nmh/publications/ncd_report_chapter4.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).Google Scholar
Asaria, P. et al., “Chronic Disease Prevention: Health Effects and Financial Costs of Strategies to Reduce Salt Intake and Control Tobacco Use,” The Lancet 370, no. 9604 (2007): 2044–2053, at 2044.Google Scholar
GLOBALink – The Online Network for Global Tobacco Control, PANacea (2012), available at <http://www.panacealink.org/globalink/> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
Arthur D. Little International, Inc., Public Finance Balance of Smoking in the Czech Republic, Report to Philip Morris (November 28, 2000), at 2, available at <http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/content/what_we_do/industry_watch/philip_morris_czech/pmczechstudy.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
“Philip Morris Issues Apology for Czech Study on Smoking,” New York Times, July 27, 2001, available at <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/business/philip-morris-issues-apology-for-czech-study-on-smoking.html>..>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2009: Implementing Smoke-Free Environments, Geneva, 2009.Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, Jaime Barco Rodas contra el Artículo 3° de la ley N. 28705 – Ley general para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco, unconstitutionality proceeding, July 2011, at 41–42.Google Scholar
See Gloppen, , supra note 50.Google Scholar
See Flood, and Chen, , supra note 9, at 482.Google Scholar
Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v. Grootboom and Others, Case No. CCT 11/00 (11) BCLR 1169 (2000).Google Scholar
Minister of Health and Others v. Treatment Action Campaign and Others. Case No. CCT 8/02 (10) BCLR 1033 (2002).Google Scholar
Gloppen, S., Social Rights Litigation as Transformation: South African Perspectives, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Working Paper (2005) available at <http://www.cmi.no/publications/2005/wp/wp2005-3.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).Google Scholar
AfriMAP and Open Society Foundation for South Africa. South Africa: Justice Sector and the Rule of Law. Discussion paper (2005) available at <http://www.soros.org/resources/articles_publications/publications/sajustice_20060223/afrimapdiscussion_20060223.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
Mbazira, C., “Non-Implementation of Court Orders in Socio-Economic Rights Litigation in South Africa: Is the Cancer Here to Stay?” ESR Rights Review 9, no. 4 (2008): 2–7, at 2.Google Scholar
Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development v. Nyathi and Others (CCT 53/09) (2009).Google Scholar
Supreme Court of Argentina (2006), “Mendoza, Beatriz S. y otros c. Estado Nacional y otros”.Google Scholar
Mæstad, O. Rakner, L., and Ferraz, O. M., “Assessing the Impact of Health Rights Litigation: A Comparative Analysis of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, India and South Africa,” in Yamin, A. E. and Gloppen, S., eds., Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011): 273–303, at 283.Google Scholar
Murli Deora v. Union of India and Others, W.P. No. 316/1999, Judgment of Feb. 11, 2001 (Supreme Court of India).Google Scholar
The tobacco control laws approved at a state level were the Assam Prohibition of Smoking and non-Smokers Health Protection Bill (1999) and the West Bengal Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting and Protection of Health of non-Smokers and Minors Bill (2001).Google Scholar
Reddy, K. S. and Gupta, P. C., eds., Report on Tobacco Control in India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization (November 25, 2004): 180–87, available at <http://mohfw.nic.in/WriteReadData/l892s/911379183TobaccocontroinIndia_10Dec04.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
Colombian Constitutional Court, Expediente D-8096 – Sentencia C-830/10, 2010, at 26.3.Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal. Jaime Barco Rodas contra el Artículo 3° de la ley N. 28705 – Ley general para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco, unconstitutionality proceeding, July 2011, at 81.Google Scholar
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Guatemala (2009), Docket No. 2158, Corte de Constitucionalidad [CC][Constitutional Court] (Guat.), at V. (unofficial translation for this paper).Google Scholar
Mexican Supreme Court of Justice, Jorge Francisco Balderas Woolrich, revised amparo 315/2010 against 1791/2008, 28/03/2011.Google Scholar
Mejorada, Sanchez C., The Writ of Amparo, 243 Essential Human Rights 107 (1946).Google Scholar
Mexican Supreme Court of Justice, Jorge Francisco Balderas Woolrich, revised amparo 315/2010 against 1791/2008, 28/03/2011, pg. 43.Google Scholar
Mexican Supreme Court of Justice, Jorge Francisco Balderas Woolrich, revised amparo 315/2010 against 1791/2008, 28/03/2011, pg. 33 (unofficial translation for this paper).Google Scholar
Moreno, Arroyo J., “La fórmula de Otero y el amparo contra leyes,” in Jurídica. Anuario del Departamento de Derecho de la Universidad Iberoamericana 1990–1991, Número 20, 1990, available at <http://www.juridicas.unam.mx/publica/librev/rev/jurid/cont/20/pr/pr25.pdf> (last visited January 24, 2013).+(last+visited+January+24,+2013).>Google Scholar
National Decree amending articles 94, 103, 104 y 107 of Mexican National Constitution, June 6, 2011.Google Scholar
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Nature of States Parties' Obligations (Art. 2, par.1), General Comment 3 (December 14, 1990), at 9.Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, Jaime Barco Rodas contra el Artículo 3° de la ley N. 28705 – Ley general para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco, unconstitutionality proceeding, July 2011, at 148 (unofficial translation for this article).Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, Jose Luis Correa Condori, EXP. N.° 2016–2004-AA/TC, October 2004, at 11 (unofficial translation for this article).Google Scholar
Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, R.J.S.A. Vda. de R., EXPN.° 3081–2007-PA/TC, November 2007, at 21–28.Google Scholar
Colombian Constitutional Court, Expediente D-8096 – Sentencia C-830/10, 2010, p. 28.Google Scholar
Colombian Constitutional Court, Expediente D-8096 – Sentencia C-830/10, 2010, p. 29. 2.Google Scholar
The Joint Action and Learning Initiative on National and Global Responsibilities for Health (JALI) has been formed to investigate and forge consensus around answers to fundamental questions about countries' responsibilities to improve the health of their own populations and the health of the world's population, especially disadvantaged individuals and communities. JALI's central goal is to have these responsibilities, and governance structures that can effectively realize these responsibilities, form the basis of the post-Millennium Development Goals global health framework, possibly through a Framework Convention on Global Health. Gostin, L. et al., “National and Global Responsibilities for Health,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, no. 88(2010): 719–719A.Google Scholar