Dataset Information

Legal Challenges in Tobacco Control: Historical and Qualitative Analysis of Litigations in Karnataka.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tobacco use is a major cause of disease and death in India. Karnataka, a southern Indian state with 12 million tobacco users has a fair share of this burden. The Government of Karnataka has used an ensemble of regulations to reduce tobacco use. Studies indicate that litigations have been used by the tobacco industry to challenge tobacco control regulations at the national level. There is a dearth of studies on how litigations have been used at a state level.

Objectives

To historically analyse the tobacco-related litigations so as to better understand how laws/regulations have been used and contested by various stakeholders in advancing or resisting the tobacco control efforts in Karnataka.

Methods

We used a retrospective qualitative analysis of tobacco-related litigations adjudicated by the Karnataka High court. We systematically searched a legal database and selected 39 litigations for analysis. We mapped these cases in a spreadsheet and used thematic content analysis of the court judgements.

Results

Our study demonstrated that tobacco regulations and legal challenges arise from a range of laws related to food, pharmaceuticals, municipal affairs and taxation in addition to tobacco-specific laws. We found that tobacco regulations have been intensely litigated, predominantly by parties with commercial interests in tobacco that resisted these regulations. Comparatively, there were very few litigations from public health advocates demanding stricter tobacco control regulations.

Conclusion

Analysis of litigations helps in identifying legal challenges that inform tobacco control authorities to anticipate and prepare for future challenges in implementing tobacco control regulations. Tobacco control agencies need adequate legal personnel and resources to effectively respond to these challenges.

SUBMITTER: Dsouza R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7613261 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Legal Challenges in Tobacco Control: Historical and Qualitative Analysis of Litigations in Karnataka.

Dsouza Riddhi R Bhojani Upendra U Joseph Neema N Prabhakara Prabhakara P Selvarajan M M

Health policy and research 20220101 1

<h4>Background</h4>Tobacco use is a major cause of disease and death in India. Karnataka, a southern Indian state with 12 million tobacco users has a fair share of this burden. The Government of Karnataka has used an ensemble of regulations to reduce tobacco use. Studies indicate that litigations have been used by the tobacco industry to challenge tobacco control regulations at the national level. There is a dearth of studies on how litigations have been used at a state level.<h4>Objectives</h4> ...[more]

PMID: 35950725

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Dataset Information

Legal Challenges in Tobacco Control: Historical and Qualitative Analysis of Litigations in Karnataka.

Background

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Legal Challenges in Tobacco Control: Historical and Qualitative Analysis of Litigations in Karnataka.

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