$1.5-Billion Fund Aims to Deter Smoking

The multistate tobacco settlement that became final last week will create a $1.5-billion fund to finance anti-smoking efforts.

But many health-care leaders worry that conditions placed on the fund will keep it from being effective.

According to terms of the settlement, signed by five tobacco companies last week, the industry will pay $206-billion to states over the next 25 years to settle unresolved lawsuits seeking reimbursement for treatment of smoking-related illnesses.

Part of that money is earmarked for a foundation that will finance advertisements aimed at reducing smoking among young people, and will support education and research on effective ways to discourage tobacco use.

While some charity advocates laud the foundation plan, others say that the industry won concessions that will keep the new fund from doing an effective job. The settlement stipulates that the new foundation’s ads cannot contain any negative messages about particular tobacco companies or the industry in general.

The restriction disturbs some charity advocates.

“This new public-health foundation is really hamstrung,” says Paul Billings of the American Lung Association’s Washington office. “The foundation will only say, ‘Don’t smoke, Junior.’ It can talk about addiction and health costs but cannot criticize the generic industry.”

Other charity leaders say that limits on what ads the new foundation can run are undesirable, but that the fund will still be a powerful weapon.