Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement

Common card · No. 244533

The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), entered on November 23, 1998, was between the four largest U.S. tobacco companies—Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard (the "original participating manufacturers" or "Majors")—and the attorneys general of 46 states. It resolved state Medicaid lawsuits seeking recovery of tobacco-related health-care costs. In exchange, the companies agreed to limit certain marketing practices and to pay the states indefinitely for some medical expenses related to smoking, committing at least $206 billion over the first 25 years. The MSA also created the anti-smoking advocacy group, the Truth Initiative, which maintains a public document archive, and led to the dissolution of the Tobacco Institute, the Center for Indoor Air Research, and the Council for Tobacco Research.

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