Tobacco use represents a critical global health challenge. The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco kills nearly 6 million people a year, with the toll expected to rise to 8 million annually over the next two decades. This detailed book, written by health and legal experts from institutions around the globe, examines legal issues arising from Australia's world-first introduction of mandatory plain packaging of tobacco products. The book offers an in-depth exploration of relevant domestic and international legal questions in fields such as intellectual property, constitutional law, health, trade and investment. The authors' analysis sheds light on broader questions relating to the capacity of governments to regulate tobacco products and the tobacco industry, and to regulate in the interests of public health more generally. The answers to these questions are of vital interest not only to Australia but also to the international community, with states' regulatory sovereignty increasingly being challenged in local and international courts and tribunals.

This timely study is designed to assist international organizations, NGOs, policymakers, and scholars in law, medicine and health-related areas. Health professionals and advisors will also find much of interest here.

Contributors: A. Alemanno, G. Ayres, E. Bonadio, J. Bosland, S. Chapman, M. Davison, S. Evans, T.A. Faunce, B. Freeman, K. Lannan, J. Liberman, B. McGrady, A.D. Mitchell, M. Scollo, T. Voon