U.S. v. Philip Morris: How the judge's findings regarding Master Settlement Agreement violations may help improve public health

Despite some pubic sentiment that the major U.S. cigarette manufacturers have changed their behavior and are now more responsible corporations, these companies continue to violate the Master Settlement Agreement (“MSA”) that they entered in 1998 with 46 state Attorneys General. The MSA requires the manufacturers to refrain from a host of behaviors that are detrimental to the public health, including youth marketing. Attorneys General of the party states have the power to enforce the agreement. In August 2006, Judge Gladys Kessler found the manufacturers liable for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (known commonly as “RICO”). To support her conclusion, Judge Kessler made copious findings of fact, many of which evidence potential ongoing MSA violations. For example, she found that after the MSA went into effect the manufacturers drastically increased their use of prices promotions despite their own long recognition of young people's price sensitivity. Another example is the manufacturers' increased sponsorship budget, since the MSA, of events such as televised racing that are extremely attractive to youth. Such findings can serve as a critical tool to inform the public health community about the tobacco industry's continued misconduct and can serve as a call to action for state Attorneys General to bring MSA enforcement actions. Such awareness and enforcement will force the offending manufacturers to change their misconduct and also will serve to deter their future MSA violations, thereby maximizing the MSA's ability to keep industry behavior in check to the betterment of public health.