Only 2.3 per cent of nearly USD 391 billion (EUR 285 billion) in Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) payments by cigarette makers and tobacco taxes was spent on prevention programmes during the past 15 years, a report shows.

Despite promises by state governments to spend significant amounts on prevention, the report released by a coalition of public health organisations shows only USD 8.9 billion in states’ tobacco money was spend to stop youth from smoking and help smokers quit.
States provide just 13 per cent of tobacco prevention funding recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the health organisations said in a statement. Of the USD 390.8 billion, USD 116.3 billion came from MSA and USD 274.5 billion from tobacco taxes.
Broken Promises to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 15 Years Later, is the name of the report released by groups including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society.