Commentary: Understanding the origins of anger, contempt, and disgust in public health policy disputes: applying moral psychology to harm reduction debates.

Scientific disputes about public health issues can become emotional battlefields marked by strong emotions like anger, contempt, and disgust. Contemporary work in moral psychology demonstrates that each of these emotions is a reaction to a specific type of moral violation. Applying this work to harm reduction debates, specifically the use of smokeless tobacco to reduce harm from tobacco use, we attempt to explain why some public health disputes have been so heated.

Ethical implications of physician involvement in lawsuits on behalf of the tobacco industry.

The statements of physicians who serve as expert witnesses for the tobacco industry reveal subtle but significant problems. Some expert testimony obfuscates the important issues, and some initially reasonable statements later evolve into extreme positions during cross-examination. Such statements fall into a "gray area" of professional ethics, potentially misleading juries and adversely affecting professional integrity.

Application of law to the childhood obesity epidemic.

Childhood obesity is in important respects a result of legal policies that influence both dietary intake and physical activity. The law must shift focus away from individual risk factors alone and seek instead to promote situational and environmental influences that create an atmosphere conducive to health. To attain this goal, advocates should embrace a population-wide model of public health, and policymakers must critically examine the fashionable rhetoric of consumer choice.

Applying lessons from tobacco litigation to obesity lawsuits.

This discussion examines the use of litigation as a strategy to protect the public health. The history of tobacco litigation provides a model to evaluate potential litigation strategies against other industries that pose a threat to public health, particularly the food industry. This paper demonstrates that although legislation would be a preferable solution, lessons from the tobacco wars suggest that effective national legislation is unlikely at the present time.