Two ex-fellows of the School for Moral Ambition have set up a fund to finance lawsuits against the tobacco industry. The laws are already there, they argue, but they must be enforced in court. ‘The costs of health damage must be returned to those who cause it.’

By the web editors

The laws to stop sickening and deadly industries such as the tobacco industry have been in place for a long time, they just need to be enforced in court. This is the opinion of two former fellows of the School for Moral Ambition (SMA), Amina Ahmad and Steven Baylis. Together, they set up a fund to finance lawsuits against companies that cause damage to health, called Shift. “Our aim is straightforward: enforce existing legislation, hold corporations accountable, and stop industries of harm from thriving,” the founders write on SMA’s website.

Governments spend billions on health care because of products that damage health: tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed food and fossil fuels. And the industries that exist from this continue to grow: “they privatize profits, while socializing costs,” write Ahmad and Baylis.

Law forces accountability

Public health advocates often focus on policy change, but these are slow and influenceable processes. The tobacco industry has set an example for all other sectors with misleading advertising, funding front groups, sowing doubt about scientific evidence, lobbying policymakers and challenging policy through the courts.

“Policy can push back,” the Shift founders write about tobacco control policy. “But litigation forces accountability. It shifts the cost of harm back to those who knowingly cause it.”

FCTC Convention is a guideline

Because the ‘Tobacco Playbook’, as the manipulative tactics of the tobacco industry are often summarized, is the example for other industries, Ahmad and Baylis are first focussing on this sector. With 7 million premature deaths, tobacco is the deadliest consumer product on earth. It is also the most regulated sector, thanks to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the only health treaty in the world.

This treaty offers the unique opportunity to enforce a similar responsibility in other industries by enforcing existing laws against the tobacco industry. According to Ahmad and Baylis, there are plenty of examples of social change that has been enforced by holding companies and industries accountable through the courts.

Financing and advice

Shift offers funding for civil and administrative cases for which no money can be found in any other way. The focus is on European cases to begin with, Baylis tells TabakNee, “but that doesn’t exclude cases which have applicability or originate outside of Europe, for example human rights violations in the supply chain.” Apart from funding, Ahmad, with a broad background in finance and social investment, and human rights lawyer Baylis provide legal advice and help build coalitions with interest groups and academics and set up communication strategies.

And that is necessary, the two say, because tobacco alone costs the world 1 trillion dollars a year in health care and lost productivity. Not mentioning the costs of obesity, alcohol-related diseases and the damage of air pollution from fossil fuels.

‘No more blank cheques’

“Governments cannot afford to keep writing blank checks for preventable harm. Litigation changes the equation. It says: if you profit from harming health, you pay for it,” say Baylis and Ahmad. “We are convinced that good health is a human right, and that the law can be one of our strongest tools to protect it. But litigation requires resources, persistence, and the courage to stand up to some of the wealthiest corporations on earth.”

Ahmad and Baylis realize that industries will offer strong opposition. But they envision a future “where it is no longer profitable to make people sick. Where corporations are held to the same standard as citizens: obey the law, or face the consequences. Where public health policies are not undermined but enforced, through the courts if necessary.”