US court cases for tobacco

摘要

USA: February 2008 was significant for two cases affecting the tobacco industry: in early February, a lawsuit challenging the 46-state tobacco "Master Settlement Agreement" (MSA) was be argued in federal district court in Shreveport, Louisiana - the Government Accountability Office's annual reports find that very little of the money appropriated actually goes to health- or smoking-related programmes. The lawsuit was brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute on behalf of a small cigarette maker that refused to join the MSA, as well as a tobacco shop owner and individual smoker. The lawsuit sought to overturn the $206bn tobacco settlement reached by 46 state attorneys general and major tobacco companies in 1998.