PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Bryan P Thomas AU - Lawrence O Gostin TI - Tobacco endgame strategies: challenges in ethics and law AID - 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050839 DP - 2013 May 01 TA - Tobacco Control PG - i55--i57 VI - 22 IP - suppl 1 4099 - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/22/suppl_1/i55.short 4100 - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/22/suppl_1/i55.full SO - Tob Control2013 May 01; 22 AB - There are complex legal and ethical tradeoffs involved in using intensified regulation to bring smoking prevalence to near-zero levels. The authors explore these tradeoffs through a lens of health justice, paying particular attention to the potential impact on vulnerable populations. The ethical tradeoffs explored include the charge that heavy regulation is paternalistic; the potentially regressive impact of heavily taxing a product consumed disproportionately by the poor; the simple loss of enjoyment to heavily addicted smokers; the health risks posed by, for example, regulating nicotine content in cigarettes—where doing so leads to increased consumption. Turning to legalistic concerns, the authors explore whether endgame strategies constitute a form of ‘regulatory taking’; whether endgame strategies can be squared with global trade/investment laws; whether free speech rights are infringed by aggressive restrictions on the advertisement and marketing of cigarettes.