By Staff

(AXcess News) Washington - Funds derived through a settlement have been implemented fairly well when it comes to educating the general public on the hazards of cigarette smoking.  Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary since the government settled its claims against tobacco giants in which 28% fewer Americans are smoking cigarettes today as a result of those public health moves.

According to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and the American Legacy Foundation, the nation's largest public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the US, cigarette consumption in the U.S. has decreased by an estimated 28 percent, or 135 billion cigarettes, over the past decade, which marks a major milestone in public health and tobacco control.

Ten years after the state Attorneys General negotiated the landmark 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies, cigarette consumption has continued to decline and the landscape around tobacco use has shifted significantly. With November 23, 2008 marking the anniversary of the signing, the MSA should be recognized for the enormous impact it has had on cigarette consumption, the groups said.

"This settlement continues to send a strong message to the tobacco companies: Americans won't tolerate the marketing of this deadly product to our young people," said NAAG Tobacco Committee Co-Chair and Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna. "As a direct result of the work of the nation's attorneys general, today's kids are less exposed to pro-tobacco marketing like Joe Camel. Kids who still want tobacco products face ever-increasing roadblocks to obtaining them."

The Attorneys General point out that in the years immediately prior to the states' settlement agreements with the tobacco companies, cigarette sales in the United States had reached a plateau. By contrast, the ten-year decline in cigarette sales of 28 percent since the MSA is unprecedented.

According to data from the U.S. Tobacco Tax Bureau of the U.S. Treasury, the tobacco industry sold 480.5 billion sticks in 1997, compared with sales of 344.4 billion sticks projected for 2008. Additionally, cigarette consumption in 2007 (360.5 billion sticks) declined by five percent from 2006 levels (379.5 billion sticks). That reduction marks the largest one-year percentage decrease in cigarette sales since 1999. The data and projections are based on calculations by the NAAG'S Tobacco Project using Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau data combined with cigarette import data from U.S. Customs.

"The Master Settlement Agreement placed significant restrictions on the advertising and marketing practices of the tobacco companies, and also provided funding for an effective anti-smoking public education campaign targeted directly at youth," said Cheryl Healton, Dr. P.H., President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation. "These new numbers conclusively demonstrate that the combination of these two factors -- together with the hard work of the Attorneys General and the public health community -- has resulted in a major reduction in smoking rates since the MSA was signed."

"While this is great news for public health, there is still much work to be done. Forty-three million Americans still smoke and 3,900 youth try smoking every day. We must continue this fight and engage more of the public health community, including the states, in funding tobacco prevention programs," Healton added.

Tobacco is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States; tobacco use continues to kill more than 400,000 American each year.

Source: www.americanlegacy.org