‘Health shortchanged’

U.S. states will spend less than 3 percent of their tobacco revenues on programs to prevent children from using tobacco and help smokers quit this year (fiscal 2020), according to a report released Dec. 19 by a coalition of public health organizations.

Of the $27.2 billion in tobacco tax and Master Settlement Agreement income anticipated this year, states will spend only $739.7 million on anti-tobacco measures.

While this is a small increase from last year, it is less than a quarter (22.4 percent) of the total funding recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). No state currently funds its tobacco prevention and cessation programs at CDC-recommended levels and only six states provide half the recommended amount.

This year marks the 21st anniversary of the landmark legal settlement between 46 states and the major tobacco companies, which, along with individual settlements with four other states, required the companies to pay more than $246 billion over time as compensation for tobacco-related health care costs.

The report, “Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement,” was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society-Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Truth Initiative.