CDC report finds states spend only a fraction of tobacco funds to fight smoking

The study says states collected $244 billion from tobacco settlement payments between 1998 and 2010, and used about $8 billion of that for anti-smoking campaigns.

HealthDay/Philadelphia Inquirer: States Use Only Fraction Of Tobacco Revenues To Fight Smoking, Study Finds
Only a small percentage of the billions of dollars states take in from tobacco revenues goes to anti-smoking efforts, a new federal report finds. Under the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, tobacco companies agreed to reimburse states for Medicaid costs related to tobacco use. … However, the new study finds that between 1998 and 2010, states collected a combined total of almost $244 billion in tobacco industry settlement payments and cigarette excise taxes, but have invested only about $8 billion in effective state anti-smoking, tobacco control programs (Preidt, 5/25).

Politico Pro: CDC: States Falling Short On Tobacco Control
States are using dwindling amounts of their tobacco settlement money to try to bring down smoking rates -; despite ample evidence that investment in tobacco control pays off, according to a CDC report released Thursday. … The CDC report shows that between 1998 and 2010, states collected $243.8 billion from the settlement and tobacco taxes but spent only $8.1 billion of it -; one dollar out of 30 -; on smoking prevention and cessation. That's less than one-third of what the CDC recommended at the time. In addition, the share of settlement money used for tobacco control efforts has dwindled in recent years, according to the data released with the weekly morbidity and mortality update (Cheney, 5/24).

Meanwhile, in other news about public health -

The New York Times: Battle Brewing Over Labeling Of Genetically Modified Food
For more than a decade, almost all processed foods in the United States -; cereals, snack foods, salad dressings -; have contained ingredients from plants whose DNA was manipulated in a laboratory. Regulators and many scientists say these pose no danger. But as Americans ask more pointed questions about what they are eating, popular suspicions about the health and environmental effects of biotechnology are fueling a movement to require that food from genetically modified crops be labeled, if not eliminated (Harmon and Pollack, 5/24).

Reuters: Anti-Obesity Proposal Fails Again At McDonald's
McDonald's Corp investors soundly rejected a shareholder proposal that would have required the world's biggest fast-food chain to assess its impact on childhood obesity. ... The shareholder proposal, which also failed last year, returned amid growing concern over the social and financial costs of obesity in the United States and around the world -- not only in terms of healthcare-related expenses but also lower worker productivity and diminished quality of life (Baertlein, 5/24).