Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement
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/* Criticism of the MSA */ fixed a disambiguation
The '''Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement''' ('''MSA''') is the largest [[Civil law (legal system)|civil]] [[Settlement (litigation)|settlement]] in [[Law of the United States|United States history]].<ref>{{
cite news
|publisher=[[Wall Street Journal]]
|title=Forty-Six States Agree to Accept $206 Billion Tobacco Settlement
|date=November 23, 1998
|author=Milo Geyelin
}}</ref>
The MSA arose out of many separate [[lawsuit|legal actions]] brought by various individual States against the [[tobacco industry]] for [[Medicare (United States)|Medicaid]] costs associated with [[smoking]]-[[Health effects of tobacco smoking|related diseases]]. The agreement was originally negotiated between the four largest [[tobacco]] companies and 46 [[U.S. state]]s and 6 [[United States territory|U.S. territories]]. The MSA ultimately exempted the companies from [[tort]] [[Liability#In law|liability]] from [[state government]]s and settled the lawsuit in exchange for a combination of yearly payments to the states and voluntary restrictions on [[Tobacco advertising|advertising and marketing of tobacco products]]. The MSA also created and currently funds the [[American Legacy Foundation]], an anti-smoking [[Interest group|advocacy group]] that is responsible for such campaigns as [[TheTruth.com|The Truth]]. The agreement is meant to provide state governments with compensation for smoking related [[Health care prices|medical costs]] and to help reduce smoking in the United States. There is no limit to the yearly settlement payments; they are perpetual.
The MSA was originally signed in November of [[1998]] by the four [[Big Tobacco|largest]] [[Tobacco industry|tobacco companies]], [[Philip Morris USA]], [[R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company]], [[Brown & Williamson|Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.]], and [[Lorillard Tobacco Company]]. The agreement was later joined by over 40 other tobacco companies. Every U.S. state and 6 U.S. territories signed the agreement. [[Florida]], [[Minnesota]], [[Texas]] and [[Mississippi]] had already reached individual agreements with the tobacco industry.
==Criticism of the MSA==
Some anti-smoking advocates, such as William Godshall, have criticized the MSA as being too lenient on the major tobacco companies. In a speech at the National Tobacco Control Conference, Godshall made claims that "[W]ith unprecedented future legal protection granted by the [[State Attorney General|state A.G.'s]] in exchange for money, it appears that the tobacco industry has emerged from the state lawsuits even more powerful."<ref>[http://tc.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/8/4/437 Giving 10% to gain eternity], ''Tobacco Control 1999;8:437-439 (Winter)''/</ref>
An article in the Journal of the [[National Cancer Institute]] described the MSA as an "opportunity lost to curb cigarette use", citing public health researchers' views that not enough of the MSA money was being spent on anti-smoking measures.<ref>
Renee Twombly, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 96, No. 10, 730-732,
May 19, 2004 DOI: 10.1093/jnci/96.10.730
[http://www.jncicancerspectrum.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/jnci;96/10/730]</ref> Dr. Stephen A. Schroeder wrote in the ''[[New England Journal of Medicine]]'' that "Although U.S. smoking rates are slowly declining, progress toward that end [decreasing smoking] would be faster if federal policymaking matched both the rigor of the scientific evidence against tobacco use and the resolve of antitobacco advocates."<ref>Steven A. Schroeder, M.D., ''Tobacco Control in the Wake of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement'', [[New England Journal of Medicine]], January 15, 2004.</ref> [[Cigarette]] consumption in the United States fell to a 50 year low in [[2004]].{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
Another criticism is the alleged favoritism shown to the major tobacco companies over smaller independent tobacco growers and sellers. Proponents of this argument claim that certain restrictions on pricing make it more difficult for small growers to compete with "[[Big Tobacco]]". Twelve states have successfully fought against this argument in court during the last two years and the enforcement of the MSA continues throughout the United States in perpetuity.
Fellows within the [[Cato Institute]], such as [[Robert A. Levy|Robert Levy]], assert that the lawsuit that brought on the Tobacco settlement was instigated by a need to make beneficiary payments to [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] recipients. Following the passage of laws that eliminated the tobacco companies' ability to provide evidence in court for their defense, the tobacco companies were forced to settle. The big four tobacco companies agreed to pay the state governments several billion dollars but the government in turn was to protect the big four tobacco companies from competition. The Master Settlement Agreement, they argue, created an unconstitutional cartel arrangement that benefited both the government and big tobacco.<ref>http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa371.pdf</ref><ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/27558.html Reason Magazine - Puff, the Magic Settlement<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Robert Levy states,
::"For 40 years, tobacco companies had not been held liable for cigarette-related illnesses. Then, beginning in 1994, led by Florida, states across the country sued big tobacco to recover public outlays for medical expenses due to smoking. By changing the law to guarantee they would win in court, the states extorted a quarter-trillion-dollar settlement, which was passed along in higher cigarette prices. Basically, the tobacco companies had money; the states and their hired-gun attorneys wanted money; so the companies paid and the states collected. Then sick smokers got stuck with the bill."<ref>[http://www.cato.org/speakers/levy.html The Cato Institute: Speakers Bureau - Robert A. Levy<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Operation Berkshire]]
==Notes==
<references/>
==External links==
*[http://www.naag.org/backpages/naag/tobacco/msa/msa-pdf/1109185724_1032468605_cigmsa.pdf Text of the Master Settlement Agreement]
[[Category:1998 in law]]
[[Category:Tobacco control]]
[[Category:United States case law]]