From Tim Mackey, Bryan Liang, and colleagues: Call to action: promoting domestic and global tobacco control by ratifying the framework convention on tobacco control in the United States

PLoS Med. 2014 May 6;11(5):e1001639. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001639. eCollection 2014.

Call to action: promoting domestic and global tobacco control by ratifying the framework convention on tobacco control in the United States.

Mackey TK1, Liang BA2, Pierce JP3, Huber L4, Bostic C5.

Author information

• 1Department of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, United States of America; Global Health Policy Institute, San Diego, California, United States of America; Joint Masters Program on Health Policy and Law, University of California, San Diego-California Western School of Law, San Diego, California, United States of America.
• 2Department of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, United States of America; Global Health Policy Institute, San Diego, California, United States of America.
• 3Department of Family and Preventative Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, United States of America.
• 4Action on Smoking and Health, Washington, DC, United States of America; The Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control, Washington, DC, United States of America.
• 5Action on Smoking and Health, Washington, DC, United States of America.

"Current legal ambiguity has resulted in renewed efforts by the FDA to create new defensible tobacco health warnings. However, even with new warnings, a tobacco industry challenge on constitutional grounds is inevitable and could lead to a future SCOTUS hearing on the issue that poses risks for both domestic and global tobacco control efforts. This is a critical concern given the prominence of the United States in the political economy of the tobacco industry and the need for international support of state-based FCTC implementation in response to strategic and widespread industry legal challenges [10]. In response, the US, consistent with its history of progressive tobacco control policy, including the first health warnings on tobacco packages globally in 1966, should immediately and actively pursue FCTC ratification to protect and promote tobacco control measures being pursued locally and globally."