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Individual and human rights in tobacco control: help or hindrance?

¹ University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
² Department of Communication, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Correspondence to:
Brion J Fox
University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, 385 WARF, 610 Walnut Street, Madison, WI 53726, USA; bjfox@uwccc.wisc.edu

Keywords: human rights; individual rights

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Rights based arguments are a vital and increasingly important aspect of modern society, but are they vital in the framing and implementation of tobacco control policy and advocacy? Most experts would say yes in principle. Yet, it is less clear what and how much of a role rights should play in the policy declarations, in the training of volunteers, and in the rhetoric of advocacy. In part, the answer depends on one’s perception of rights, which could include individualistic, communitarian, or human rights, each with vastly different implications for policy and behaviour. But even with a common understanding of what is meant by rights, the application of rights arguments in policy contexts is elusive and requires analysis at several levels—from the abstract to the practical. For example, if rights form the foundation upon which tobacco control advocacy can or should be based, how explicit should the use of rights language . . . [Full text of this article]