254875 Evolution of Tobacco Labeling and Packaging: Global Health Governance and Trade Policy

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 5:02 PM - 5:16 PM

Timothy Mackey, MAS , School of Public Health (SDSU), Institute of Health Law Studies (Cal Western School of Law), San Diego State University-University of California, San Diego and Institute of Health Law Studies, Cal Western School of Law, San Diego, CA
Bryan Liang, MD, JD, PhD , School of Medicine (UCSD), Institute of Health Law Studies (Cal Western School of Law), University of California, San Diego, California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA
Thomas Novotny, MD, MPH , Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
  
Recently, Australia passed cigarette plain packaging legislation marking a new path forward in tobacco control. This coincides with the World Health Organization's (“WHO”) 2011 World No Tobacco Day, which recognized the extraordinary progress made by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (“FCTC”) adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2003. Though tobacco control is progressing, challenges in implementing FCTC requirements remain, specifically for health warnings on tobacco packaging. Sovereign nations including Australia, Uruguay and the USA have come under fire from the tobacco industry for enacting legislation meeting or exceeding current FCTC obligations. The Industry is challenging these laws as violations of international intellectual property rights (“IPRs”) and trade agreements. To address this conflict, it is necessary that the international community recognize and reemphasize that public health protections available under the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement specifically apply to interventions aimed at combating tobacco marketing. In addition, national legislation that meets or exceeds requirements of FCTC should be thus considered a legitimate matter of public health that warrants exception to TRIPS.

Learning Areas:
Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
• Identify current challenges and progress in FCTC implementation of Article 11 requirements for tobacco product labeling. • Evaluate recent developments in tobacco packaging and labeling and challenges to such interventions by industry and trade actors. • Formulate a policy proposal advocating for clarification that tobacco marketing interventions, such as plain packaging, are a valid use of TRIPS flexibilities and encouraging states to implement health interventions that go beyond minimum requirements of FCTC.

Keywords: Tobacco Policy, Health Law

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I hold a masters degree in health law and am a current PhD student in global health. I am a co-author on several peer-review manuscripts on global health policy and have also given oral presentations at several international and domestic public health conferences including APHA. I am also a current member of the APHA Trade and Health Forum.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4429.0: Smoke screen: Tobacco, trade policy and the public's health