The Master Settlement Agreement, 1998

In November 1998, the four largest cigarette manufacturers in the U.S. (Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard) and 46 states, five U.S. territories, and Washington, DC signed the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) to resolve dozens of state lawsuits.¹ The settlement provides states with funds in perpetuity and $246 billion over a 25-year period to reimburse health care costs incurred by cigarette smoking, and to establish and fund the Truth Initiative (previously known as the American Legacy Foundation). The MSA also specified restrictions to tobacco company advertising, marketing and promotions. The MSA, however, did not specify how the funds should be spent by states and there has been wide variation in states’ allocation of the funds for tobacco control. The states of Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas, which are not signatories to the MSA, signed their own agreements with tobacco manufacturers prior to the MSA.