NEGOTIATORS for US states last night announced an agreement with the tobacco industry on a landmark settlement of many legal claims and tobacco-related public health issues.
"We are here today to announce what . . . we believe is the most historic public health achievement in history," Mississippi Attorney General, Mr Mike Moore, said. "We have reached agreement in principle with the tobacco industry."
According to a statement from the state attorneys general, the tobacco industry would pay $368.5 billion (£245 billion) over 25 years. The agreement requires that the industry curb the marketing of cigarettes to children and bans the sale of cigarettes from vending machines and self-service displays. The industry would be penalised unless tobacco use by children declines by specific targets. The agreement also calls for the tobacco firms to make a statement acknowledging the dangers of tobacco.
"We wanted this industry to have to change the way they do business and we have done that," Mr Moore told a press conference announcing the agreement after months of negotiations.
Connecticut Attorney General, Mr Dick Blumenthal, said: "Not one of these tobacco companies has yet paid a penny to anyone but in this agreement, they agree to pay $368.5 billion over 25 years and who knows how much beyond that to individual claimants, state governments, tobacco control, public education and smoking cessation programmes, and other vital causes."
President Clinton said the federal government would study the agreement between the states and the tobacco industry for several weeks to see whether it was in the best interests of public health. Any agreement would have to be approved by the President and by Congress.
"Until now, we have not had the opportunity to review the actual terms of the agreement and we have not concluded whether it is in the best interests of public health," Mr Clinton said in a statement. "Over the next several weeks, we will undertake a thorough public health review."
Earlier yesterday, senior administration officials said Mr Clinton intended to name a special task force to examine the details of any agreement.
The task force would be headed by Ms Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Mr Bruce Reed, the president's top domestic policy adviser. The group would be expected to present its assessment "within about 30 days".
One official said the selection of
Ms Shalala and Mr Reed to bead the task force "sends a strong message that all views will be listened to in reviewing the accord. Ms Shalala has been an ardent supporter of efforts to impose strict public health standards in any agreement, while Mr Reed advocates what one official described as a more middle of the road approach".
Part of the package, about $50 billion, would be to "punish" the industry. That amount would be used to pay for health coverage for uninsured children, sources said.
Talks between tobacco industry representatives and the state attorneys general have been going on since early April. The negotiations were aimed at a broad settlement of the huge legal claims against the industry in return for increased regulation, advertising curbs and health care programmes.
Forty states have sued the industry to recoup Medicaid costs of treating sick smokers. The states are demanding that the industry agree to be punished for past actions, that it pay damages for smoking-related injuries and that it agrees to allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate cigarettes as a drug.
Wall Street reactions to a landmark deal were mixed.
