BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: Tobacco companies have a history of manipulating facts to achieve their objectives. This includes deceiving the public for decades about the health risks and harms associated with the use of their products. To, in part, rebrand itself as “part of the solution” to the global tobacco epidemic, the tobacco industry has commercialized a new generation of products, distancing itself from the negative connotations associated with producing and marketing its most profitable product globally – conventional cigarettes. With the introduction of emerging tobacco and nicotine products, including heated tobacco products (HTPs), the industry has introduced a new set of tactics to obtain favorable regulation. When the regulation is unfavorable to its interests, the industry has used litigation to establish regulatory pathways that benefit it.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: An analysis of judicial findings available from court decisions on Tobacco Control Laws (www.tobaccocontrollaws.org) that are both favorable and unfavorable to public health were considered and comparisons were made between cases to analyze how different courts reached different outcomes.
RESULTS AND IMPACT: This presentation will summarize and analyze litigation involving HTPs filed in several countries, in which courts have grappled with questions directly related to tobacco companies’ claims about their products, including whether HTPs are smokeless tobacco products and whether advertising of HTP devices constitutes tobacco product advertising under domestic measures.
CONCLUSIONS: Ultimately, it is clear that tobacco companies are willing and able to challenge existing laws to obtain favorable legislation. Therefore, the adoption of legislation that is comprehensive and adaptive to include all tobacco and nicotine products is critical for the protection of public health.