Skip to content ↓
Press Room

A victory for health as courts in India and Europe uphold graphic warnings on tobacco

(May 4th, 2016, New York, USA) – Global public health experts Vital Strategies today welcomed the news that key tobacco control policies have been upheld against legal challenges from the tobacco industry in India and Europe. India’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of the implementation and enforcement of graphic warnings covering 85 percent of tobacco packaging, while the European Court of Justice rebutted three legal challenges to the Tobacco Products Directive, which includes the implementation of large graphic warnings on tobacco packs.

José Luis Castro, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vital Strategies commented:

“Today, the highest courts in India and in Europe upheld governments’ sovereign right to legislate to improve health. The fact that both cases support the implementation of large graphic health warnings on tobacco packs is a critical development. It shows that governments have the legal right to use tobacco packaging to warn people about tobacco’s harms with the objective of reducing tobacco use – which brings such a high social, health and economic burden. It also confirms that consumers have the right to know about the real harms of tobacco so they can make properly informed choices – not choices driven by decades of pervasive and misleading tobacco industry marketing.

“Both India and Europe have stood firm in the face of Big Tobacco’s lobbying and bullying and have emerged victorious. We hope this provides comfort to other countries facing insidious threats of legal action, motivated solely by Big Tobacco’s profit-driven objective of addicting youth and retaining existing users of a product that kills as many as two-thirds of people who use it as intended.

“Countries have the right and the obligation to act on tobacco because they are committed to reducing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and tobacco use under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As tobacco use is a major risk factor for the four main NCDs, proven tobacco control policies – including graphic warnings on tobacco packaging – could enable countries to make quick wins in delivering progress towards their sustainable development goals. We urge the adoption of large graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging in all countries yet to implement this important policy and stand ready to play our part – as we did in India through advocacy and mass and social media campaigns – in supporting governments and health ministries committed to delivering policy change.

“We congratulate the Government of India and European nations on the development and successful legal defence of these tobacco control policies. We now urge them to commit to robust implementation and enforcement in order to protect health and deliver results.”  

About Vital Strategies

Vital Strategies envisions a world where every person is protected by a strong public health system.  Our team combines evidence-based strategies with innovation to help develop sound public health policies, manage programs efficiently, strengthen data systems, conduct research, and design strategic communication campaigns for policy and behavior change.  Vital Strategies was formed when The Union North America and World Lung Foundation joined forces.  It is an affiliate of The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).

To find out more, please visit vitalstrategies.org or Twitter @VitalStrat

For further information or to arrange an interview with a Vital Strategies public health expert, please contact Tracey Johnston, Vital Strategies, at +44.7889.081.170 or tjohnston@vitalstrategies.org