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News
Iowans' Health
Improves Since Tobacco Agreement
Posted 25 November 2008
Ten years after state attorneys
general and “Big Tobacco” reached a landmark agreement, cigarette
smoking is down and attitudes about tobacco have changed for the
better, Attorney General Tom Miller said last week.
Miller was a leader of the Attorney Generals who advocated for the
health reforms contained in the agreement that was signed 10 years ago
this past Sunday.
“The current consumption of cigarettes in this country is the lowest
since we began keeping records in 1950,” Miller said. “The decline is
even more impressive because the United States population has more than
doubled since that time.” Miller said the “Master Settlement Agreement”
of Nov. 23, 1998, contributed significantly to the progress.
Miller said U.S. annual consumption of cigarettes has declined by more
than 135 billion over the past decade, according to the USDA. In 1997,
the year before the MSA, 480 billion cigarettes were consumed in the
United States. By 2007, that number had dropped to 360 billion,
reflecting a nearly 25% decline. The projected rate for 2008 is even
lower, 344 billion cigarettes -- a 28% decline since 1998.
Miller helped lead the states in reaching the “Master Settlement
Agreement” with tobacco companies in November 1998. “The agreement has
spawned a cultural shift in attitudes toward smoking,” Miller said,
“and the result is less disease and fewer deaths in Iowa and around the
nation. It is one of the most important accomplishments of my time as
Iowa’s Attorney General.”
The Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which is regarded as the largest
legal settlement in the history of the world, marked the first major
defeat of the tobacco industry, Miller said. “Before the agreement, Big
Tobacco was considered invincible. Since the agreement, we have seen a
steady decline in the use and acceptance of tobacco by the public.”
Miller noted that Iowa has benefited from the settlement. The state’s
share of the settlement to date exceeds $540 million. “Some of that
money has been used to fund a strong and effective tobacco control
program at the Iowa Department of Public Health,” Miller said. “In
addition, Iowa has moved to reduce smoking by increasing the tax on
tobacco and creating smoke-free public environments. As people are
encouraged to quit, we need to be sure that we continue to have a
strong and effective program that includes cessation help for those
trying to quit. We’ve made great progress, but the work is not done.”
The Master Settlement Agreement imposes sweeping changes in tobacco
advertising, bans tobacco companies from targeting children, allocates
funding for tobacco education efforts and provides annual payments to
the states based on the number of cigarettes sold in the country. The
total of payments over 25 years is projected to be over $206 billion,
and payments will continue as long as cigarettes are sold.
“The past ten years have changed the way we as a society view tobacco
use,” Miller said. “One of the most important things the MSA
accomplished was to change the way the tobacco companies market their
products. It introduced protections and restrictions that were unheard
of 10 years ago. The advertising restrictions reduced mainstream
exposure to images of tobacco products, and with it, tolerance for
exposure to cigarette smoke.”
The MSA was signed by the attorneys general of 52 jurisdictions and
more than 40 tobacco companies. It was the result of a years-long legal
battle in which attorneys general across the country filed lawsuits
asking for restraints against the industry and monetary damages for
state funds spent treating smoking-related illnesses. The attorneys
general also accused the companies of marketing tobacco products to
children and of concealing the dangers associated with tobacco use.
Miller said one of the MSA’s most important public health contributions
was the creation of a national public health foundation dedicated to
reducing tobacco use in the United States. Funding negotiated by the
states created the American Legacy Foundation®, with the mission to
build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit.
Legacy has invested approximately $600 million in the nation’s most
successful youth smoking prevention campaign, truth®, which has
been credited with 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking
during its first two years (from 2000-2002), according to an article
published in the American Journal of Public Health.
“Public health was always at the heart of our lawsuits, and the MSA’s
public health gains and marketing restrictions are its true benefits,”
Attorney General Miller said.
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