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In: Economics

Tobacco litigation has transformed the prospects for tobacco control, first in the United States and more...

Tobacco litigation has transformed the prospects for tobacco control, first in the United States and more recently worldwide. It has forced tobacco companies to sit at the bargaining table with tobacco control advocates, has produced settlements under which the industry is committed to paying about $10bn each year to reimburse American states for healthcare expenditure caused by tobacco, and it has generally put the industry on the political defensive.

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Expert Solution

Smokers, their families, and government entities have been filing lawsuits against tobacco companies for more than half a century. Over the years, tobacco litigation has seen a number of changes -- from the theories of liability used by plaintiffs to the legal defenses mounted by cigarette manufacturers.

Tobacco litigation is transforming the prospects for tobacco control worldwide. Litigation in the United States is moving forward on several fronts, including individual cases, class actions, third party reimbursement actions, and secondhand smoke cases. Other countries have followed suit, with governmental actions in courts both in the United States and locally and with private individual, class action, and reimbursement cases. Australia has seen a major ruling on the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke, and there is currently a viable smokers' class action. Britain has not been hospitable to tobacco litigation, with a recent negative judicial decision forcing a group action to be abandoned.

In exchange, the companies agreed to curtail or cease certain tobacco marketing practices, as well as to pay, in perpetuity, various annual payments to the states to compensate them for some of the medical costs of caring for persons with smoking-related illnesses. The money also funds a new anti-smoking advocacy group, called the Truth Initiative, that is responsible for such campaigns as Truth and maintains a public archive of documents resulting from the cases.

The settlement also dissolved the tobacco industry groups Tobacco Institute, the Center for Indoor Air Research, and the Council for Tobacco Research. In the MSA, the original participating manufacturers (OPM) agreed to pay a minimum of $206 billion over the first 25 years of the agreement.



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