The US may learn a thing or two when it comes to stopping big Tobacco from exploiting US citizens.

by Mark Metherell Mark Metherell : health correspondent

World watching cigarette packaging case The High Court’s decision to uphold world-first plain packaging laws will be closely watched by health regulators around the globe. Autoplay ONOFFVideo feedbackVideo settings Documentary: Sex, Lies and Cigarettes. The battle to protect smoking children in Indonesia – watch now The Pulse: Katharine Murphy blogs live from Parliament Tobacco fight not over, Phillip Morris says Jerril Rechter: Plainly no need to feel sorry for big tobacco The federal government has secured a big win over big tobacco with the High Court ruling Labor’s world-first plain packaging laws are constitutionally valid. The decision is expected to have significant influence globally with both the United Kingdom and New Zealand considering plain packaging. Attorney-General Nicola Roxon with examples of the tobacco plain packaging and warning signs. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen Health experts have hailed the decision as a major victory for global health. Advertisement It clears the way for the government to impose a ban on all brand marks and logos on cigarettes, to take effect from December this year. Large graphic health warnings will dominate the packs and the manufacturers’ brand names will be written in a small generic font. “A massive win for public health” … Mike Daube. Photo: Supplied Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and Health Minister Tanya Plibersek declared: “This is a victory for all those families who have lost someone to a tobacco related illness. “No longer when a smoker pulls out a packet of cigarettes will that packet be a mobile billboard.” The ministers said plain packaging was a vital measure, “which removes the last way for big tobacco to promote its deadly products. Over the past two decades, more than 24 different studies have backed plain packaging, and now it will finally become a reality.” The High Court orders announced today do not include the reasons for its decision, which will be published at a later date. But the order means that at least a majority of the court is of the opinion that the plain pack legislation is not contrary to Section 51(xxxi) of the constitution. The High Court has awarded costs against the tobacco companies that are estimated to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. President of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, Mike Daube, said the decision was “a massive win for public health”. “It is also the global tobacco industry’s worst defeat,” said Professor Daube, who chaired the federal government’s expert committee that recommended plain packaging. “The global tobacco companies have opposed plain packaging more ferociously than any other measure we have seen.” The companies knew that plain packaging would have a major impact on smoking in Australia – and that other countries would follow. Professor Daube said the companies’ own internal documents showed that packaging was a crucial part of their marketing. “Since we learnt about the dangers of smoking, cigarettes have killed 1 million Australians, in large part because of the activities of the world’s most lethal industry.” The tobacco companies had argued before the High Court that the government, through the plain packaging measure, would be depriving them of copyright.