Symposium to Address Public Health Effects of Legal Challenges to Global Tobacco Control.

Various legal challenges faced by different countries reflect the difficulty in advancing global health goals within the restrictions posed by trade agreements, domestic laws, and other issues involving takings and intellectual property. What are the current legal challenges to global tobacco regulations and what additional challenges lay ahead?

“The Future of Global Tobacco Control: Current Constitutional and Treaty-Based Challenges”

The American Journal of Law & Medicine will hold its annual symposium on January 25, 2013 at Boston University School of Law.

Many countries have enacted dramatic tobacco control legislation in the past few years, but the industry is fighting back. Battlegrounds include national constitutional laws, bilateral investment treaties, the WTO TRIPS Agreement and domestic IP laws. Recent examples abound, from plain-packaging legislation in Australia to the World Trade Organization’s ruling against the U.S. ban on clove cigarettes. The nuanced geographic and legal contexts complicate global regulatory control, which plays an important role in advancing global public health in the face of trade-related objections. What are the current legal challenges to global tobacco control regulations, and what additional obstacles lay ahead? 

This symposium will examine the common denominators faced by several countries with aggressive tobacco control legislation. Public health measures are being challenged with an ever-growing array of laws, but common themes emerge across the globe. Special attention will be given to cigarette packaging litigation in the U.S. and Australia. The US Supreme Court may eventually be asked to address the question of whether the public interest in conveying the dangers of tobacco outweighs the free speech rights of tobacco companies. 

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Michael Siegel, professor of community health sciences, BU School of Public Health

Moderators:

• George Annas, BU School of Law and BU School of Public Health
• Leonard Glantz, BU School of Law and BU School of Public Health
• Wendy Mariner, BU School of Law and BU School of Public Health
• Alexandra Roberts, BU School of Law

Speakers:

• Matthew Allen, Allen + Clarke Policy and Regulatory Specialists
• Micah Berman, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law and College of Public Health
• Scott Burris, Temple University Beasley School of Law
• Julien Chaisse, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Richard Daynard, Northeastern University School of Law
• Samantha Graff, NPLAN
• Jane Kelsey, University of Auckland Faculty of Law
• Lara Khoury, McGill University Faculty of Law
• Mark Levin, University of Hawai’i at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law
• Jonathan Liberman, Cancer Council Victoria
• Benn McGrady, Georgetown University Law Center
• Ted Mermin, Public Good Law Center
• Kevin Outterson, BU School of Law
• Robert Stumberg, Georgetown University Law Center
• Allyn Taylor, Georgetown University
• Tania Voon, University of Melbourne Law School

All—including faculty, students and the general public—are welcome to attend. For academic questions, please contact the AJLM Symposium Editors at ajlmsymposium@gmail.com. For event-related questions and to register for this conference, please contact BU Law’s Events & PR Manager, Elizabeth Aggott, at eaa@bu.edu.

Starts: 8:00am, Friday, January 25 2013

Ends: 5:00pm

Location: BU Law, Barristers Hall, Ground Floor

http://www.bu.edu/law/events/upcoming/#AJLM