Here鈥檚 a potential epidemic worth celebrating. Australia鈥檚 High Court has 鈥� a move that some say will see the practice sweep through the world.
The legislation forces cigarette packages to carry prominent health warnings and a plain font over an olive green background 鈥� logos would no longer be allowed.
鈥淭he ramifications really are immense,鈥� says at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a domino effect in tobacco control.鈥�
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Daube says there will now be an 鈥渆pidemic of plain packaging鈥� across the globe. He says bans on smoking on flights seemed impossible but they spread once one airline took the plunge.
According to Jonathan Liberman, director of the in Melbourne, Australia, the decision will have a global impact. 鈥淸It shows] that all the tobacco companies鈥� arguments came to naught and the world needs to consider the arguments in that light.鈥�
Whether that impact extends to the US remains to be seen. 鈥淭he US is a unique situation,鈥� says of Boston University School of Law, who specialises in healthcare policy.
He says the US Supreme Court is 鈥渙penly suspicious鈥� of precedents set in other countries. Moreover, it has come to consider 鈥渃ommercial speech鈥� as protected under the first amendment right to free speech.
鈥淢any countries in Europe and elsewhere are proposing similar legislation and have been faced by similar claims that this is somehow an expropriation of the tobacco companies鈥� intellectual property rights,鈥� says John Burman, senior legal adviser at Cancer Research UK.
He says the Australian decision can be cited in US and UK courts, and he thinks it is likely to have some influence.
