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BMJ No 7108 Volume 315 News Saturday 6 September 1997 Florida wins huge award from tobacco firms The tobacco industry has agreed to pay the state of Florida $11.3bn (£7.1bn) to settle the legal battle over liability for smoking related illnesses. After signing the agreement in Palm Beach, Governor Lawton Chiles said: "Our long and difficult four year journey down Tobacco Road has come to a victorious end. The tobacco industry has conceded defeat. We have a settlement of historic proportions." The money, to be paid over 25 years, will be used by the state to recoup Medicaid expenses for treating smoking related illnesses at an estimated cost of $1m a day. It will also fund a pilot antismoking campaign aimed at teenagers, children's mental health services, and other health related services. Key provisions of the settlement require that cigarette billboards should be pulled down, starting with signs within 1000 feet (3280 m) of schools, vending machines removed from places where children have access, and tobacco advertising banned in open air or enclosed arenas for sports events. Florida is the second state to reach a settlement with tobacco companies. In June Mississippi agreed a settlement of $3.3bn - the lesser amount reflecting the state's smaller population. Both states will now be excluded from the so called tobacco pact, in which five major tobacco companies agreed to pay $368.5bn to settle lawsuits brought by smokers and 40 states to recoup Medicaid expenses for treating smoking related illnesses (26 April, p 1217). Congress and President Bill Clinton are currently reviewing the national settlement. The breakthrough that led to the settlement is believed to have resulted from statements from top tobacco executives given in pretrial testimony. Geoffrey Bible, chairman of Philip Morris, the largest cigarette manufacturer in the United States, said that cigarettes "might have" killed 100,000 Americans. The following day Ronald Motley, a lawyer for the state of Florida, asked Steven Goldstone, chairman of R J R Nabisco and a former smoker, whether he believed that smoking caused disease. Mr Goldstone replied: "I have always believed that smoking plays a part in causing lung cancer. What that role is, I don't know, but I do believe it." Fred B Charatan, Florida Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline