HEALTH PROTECTION, PUBLIC POLICIES FOR SMOKING CESSATION AND REGULATION OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES IN BRAZIL AND THE UK: A STUDY OF COMPARATIVE PUBLIC LAW

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HEALTH PROTECTION, PUBLIC POLICIES FOR SMOKING CESSATION AND REGULATION OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES IN BRAZIL AND THE UK: A STUDY OF COMPARATIVE PUBLIC LAW

Costanza Nicolosi

Abstract: Il contributo esamina, in chiave giuridico-comparata, la regolamentazione delle sigarette elettroniche negli ordinamenti del Regno Unito e del Brasile. La scelta dei modelli da comparare è dovuta non solo alle soluzioni diametralmente opposte accolte nella disciplina della materia, ma anche al differente modo di declinare il diritto costituzionale alla salute nei due ordinamenti presi in considerazione. Lo studio di tale profilo consente all’A. di pervenire a talune osservazioni sulle peculiari applicazioni in UK e in Brasile, dei principi di precauzione e di riduzione del danno.

Abstract: The present essay features a legal and comparative assessment of e-cigarettes’ regulation, including the analysis of the constitutional right to health, as well as the practical peculiarities of the legal principles at the basis of e-cigarettes’ regulation: namely the precautionary principle and the principle of harm reduction. The paper focuses in particular on two legal systems: Brazil’s and the UK’s. These two countries are indeed interesting because they feature two diametrically opposed models of e-cigarettes’ regulation.

Index: 1. Introduction 2. Constitutional rights to health 2.1 The UK Constitutional right to health 2.2 The Brazilian Constitutional right to health 3. Regulating e-cigarettes between the precautionary principle and harm reduction 3.1 The right to health, as declined by the principle of harm reduction 3.2 The right to health, as declined by the precautionary principle 4. Regulation of tobacco products (e-cigarettes?) in international law 5. The several approaches to the regulation of e-cigarettes 5.1 Prohibition 5.2. Regulation as medicinal products 5.3 Component ban 5.4 Regulation as poisons or hazardous substances 5.5 Regulation as tobacco products 5.6 Regulation as consumer products 5.7 Regulation as unique products 6. Regulation of e-cigarettes in the UK 6.1 Further restrictions in the devolved nations 6.2 Tobacco Control Plan for England 7. Regulation of e-cigarettes in Brazil 8. Considerations on the potential dangers of precaution 8.1. The availability heuristic 8.2. Probability neglect 8.3. Loss aversion and familiarity 8.4. A (mythical) belief in the benevolence of nature 8.5. System/tradeoff neglect 9. Conclusions