U.S. lawsuits against Big Tobacco

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` 0 9 Z 6 T i m e s N e w R o m a n R e g u l a r X USUS 7 vfP6 :i 00 3 x U USUS _ The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement _ MSA _ (1 t At initial glance the tobacco master settlement agreement seems like a healthy lucrative 8 deal for the 46 states that signed on with the major tobacco companies But at a ` close inspection the _ MSA _ reveals a tremendous surrender of financial and business 8 powers to the tobacco manufacturers This will examine the agreement and evaluate some of the critical objections levied against it In 1998 46 states and the major tobacco companies (Brown and Williamson tobacco corporation _ Lorillard _ tobacco

company Philip Morris incorporated R J Reynolds company Commonwealth tobacco H and _ Liggett _ and Myers reached the _ MSA _ agreement but four states Florida Minnesota

Mississippi and Texas had a separate agreement and therefore were not signatories to H the _ MSA _ Puerto Rico the U .S Virgin Islands Guam the Northern Mariana Islands and the District of Columbia also signed on The core of the agreement was the provision of 206 billion by the tobacco companies to the states for a 25 year period with emphasize on recouping funds that the states lost from caring for patients with smoking related X illnesses particularly from medicaid The other top issue was that of youth access to 0 tobacco and tobacco related marketing materials X The agreement banned cartoon characters in tobacco advertising brand name sponsorship 0 for events with youth audiences it banned youth access to free tobacco samples out door advertising and it mandated minimum cigarette package size at 20 (Wilson1999 On the issue of tobacco corporate culture the agreement required the industry to disband tobacco h trade associations and restrict industry lobbying It also required the industry to open - _ MSA _ (2 it s record and research to the public The agreement insisted that the industry must t establish a state enforcement fund with a one time 50 million payment It also established L a national foundation fund of 250 million as well...