Public and Environmental Health Law

Offers an assessment of the legislation, cases and policies that impact on public health practice in Australia and New Zealand. This book discusses laws in a range of important areas including environmental health, food safety, communicable disease, obesity, tobacco and alcohol, the human health impacts of pollution control and planning law.

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Public and Environmental Health Law is a successor to Public Health Law and Regulation 2nd edition and offers a critical and up to date assessment of the legislation, cases and policies that impact on public health practice in Australia and New Zealand.


As with earlier editions, this book outlines and discusses laws in a range of important areas including environmental health, food safety, communicable disease, obesity, tobacco and alcohol, the human health impacts of pollution control and planning law. Particular focus is given to new directions in public and environmental health law including the risk based approaches reflected in recent legislation and statutory duties to protect public health. New issues are also raised and discussed, including sustainability, the challenges of climate change, preparedness for pandemics and other public health emergencies and health impact assessment.


Introductory chapters set public and environmental health law in the context of the wider legal system and discuss issues such as its constitutional structure, international trends and obligations, rights questions including natural justice and the proper exercise of statutory power by officers. The principles of legislation and its interpretation and the laws of evidence, with a particular focus on the use of epidemiological data as evidence, are also examined.


Public and Environmental Health Law is designed for students of environmental health and public health, for environmental health officers, medical officers and others working in the field and for all persons interested in the potential for law and legislation to further the practice of public health. It is written in a way that highlights the potential for law to act strategically, as a tool for improving public health outcomes, is extensively referenced to statutes and cases and is accompanied by a detailed bibliography.