Scientific causation in populational health cases: an alternative for non-communicable diseases

This white paper advocates for a new theory of causation in mass tort law to address health harms such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) caused by the consumption of unhealthy products produced by profit-driven transnational corporations. Traditional tort law struggles with the complex causation issues inherent in NCDs, often resulting from prolonged exposure to harmful products, as it focuses on individual causation which scientific research does not typically provide. This has shielded industries from liability, as legal practitioners rely on unprincipled standards of proof based on belief rather than scientific evidence. The paper proposes integrating epidemiological methodologies into legal standards of evidence to better establish causation in mass tort cases. By adopting these scientific approaches, the legal system can better fulfill its role in compensating and deterring harms caused by unhealthy products. This could benefit from both substantial and procedural changes in law, including a collective approach to tort claims, to effectively address the growing burden of NCDs. Although epidemiology may not provide indisputable evidence in every case, its methodologies should be fully utilized when available to enhance the accuracy and fairness of causation determinations in tort law.

Read the white paper.