Legal strategies to reduce tobacco-caused disease

Abstract

In efforts to control diseases it is common to look at ways to control the vectors of disease. When dealing with tobacco-caused disease this requires an understanding of the companies that manufacture and market tobacco products, and an examination of how to shape the behaviour of these companies. Since these corporations are created by law, and seek to maximize value for their owners within the constraints that laws place on the marketplace, it is only natural that a very significant part of tobacco control activities will consist of legal strategies. This paper identifies the underlying public health goal of tobacco control activities as being the reduction of death and disease. It then considers the roles that prevention, cessation, protection from environmental tobacco smoke and toxicity reduction can play as overall strategies for achieving this goal. This is followed by the identification of a broad range of legal strategies, primarily emphasizing governmental regulation, that can be used as part of these overall strategies. The paper looks specifically at a range of measures that impact on the accessibility of tobacco products, the provision of information for consumers, protection of the health and rights of non-users and the significant potential health gains from regulation of tobacco products.