Chris Fitzsimon
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the settlement between 46 states and the tobacco industry. The states, including North Carolina, agreed to drop their lawsuits against major tobacco companies and the companies agreed to give the states $200 billion over 25 years to offset tobacco-related health care costs.
The companies also agreed to new restrictions on advertising and marketing and most states pledged to use the settlement money to pay for anti-smoking programs and health care expenses. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley was attorney general then and included a provision to use some of the money to help offset the economic losses in the state due to the decline of the tobacco industry.
In 1999, the General Assembly set up three foundations to receive and spend the settlement proceeds: the Golden Leaf Foundation, the Health and Wellness Trust Fund and the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. Golden Leaf gets half the money and the other two foundations split the other half. Only the Health and Wellness Trust Fund explicitly funds anti-smoking initiatives along with other health-education programs.
A national report by a coalition of public health groups ranks North Carolina 32nd in funding programs to prevent teens from tobacco. The state spends $18.5 million on tobacco-prevention programs, which the report points out is just 17 percent of what the Centers for Disease Control recommends.
And though the money spent on prevention may be well intended, it is dwarfed by the $569 million tobacco companies spend on marketing in North Carolina every year. The state has made some progress reducing smoking rates and tobacco products are now banned from all public school campuses and many hospitals and universities.
But one in five high school students still smoke and almost 12,000 minors become smokers every year. Public health experts say that annual health care costs in the state from tobacco-related illnesses come to $2.5 billion.
And the tobacco industry is doing more than marketing its deadly product to keep business booming. It has developed new allies in state legislative battles in recent years, conservative groups who object to anti-smoking laws as an infringement on property rights.
The coalition defeated legislation by Rep. Hugh Holliman last session to ban smoking in workplaces and public facilities, despite polls showing the ban has broad support in the state and studies proving it has no adverse economic impact.
Local governments who want to protect the public health of their citizens can’t. State law prohibits cities and counties from passing any anti-smoking ordinances stricter than the weak statewide standard. Smoking rates may now be lower in the state, but the influence of the tobacco industry doesn’t seem to be declining very much.
The Center for Media and Democracy says the settlement was flawed from the beginning and that it was unrealistic to think states wouldn’t use the settlement proceeds to fund programs that have nothing to do with public health. The center also points out that tobacco companies have increased the price of a pack of cigarettes by $1.10 since the settlement was signed, ensuring that their profits didn’t suffer from the agreement.
The marketing efforts and sponsorships guarantee that, too. The profits of the tobacco industry depend on people continuing to increase their risk of cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.
The 10th anniversary of the agreement is a good time for state officials to take another look at how the state is spending the annual proceeds from it. It is also a good time to finally listen to Rep. Holliman and protect people from the deadly effects of secondhand smoke.
We have been settling for less in public health for too long.