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A national study by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids ranks Missouri dead last in tobacco prevention spending.

November 30, 2005
By: Kelly Snyder
State Capital Bureau

Missouri ranks dead last in tobacco prevention spending according to a national study by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

Kelly Snyder has more on the state's lack of funding.

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Tobacco settlements in Missouri add up to more than two hundred million dollars, but not one cent goes toward youth tobacco prevention.

Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Spokesperson Aaron Doeppers says this money is not being spent correctly.

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Contents: Every year we've pushed the legislature to use this money as it was intended and clearly that hasn't happened. So the legislature's complete failure to use this money as it was intended and it's time to go other routes.

Doeppers says an initiative to increase cigarette sales tax would use a percentage of that revenue for fuding tobacco prevention programs.

Several years ago, Missouri's former governor Bob Holden and the legislature decided to use the entire pile of tobacco settlement money to balance the state's budget at a time revenues had fallen below expectations.

From the State Capitol, I'm Kelly Snyder.

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A Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids report finds Missouri's tobacco prevention spending to be the lowest in the nation.

Kelly Snyder has more on the report's findings.

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The Campaign for Tobaccco Free Kids reports that Missouri takes in more than two hundred million dollars from tobacco settlements, but not one cent goes toward tobacco prevention.

Governor Spokesperson Jessica Robinson says youth tobacco prevention is a priority for the governor.

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Contents: None of the tobacco settlement money has gone to youth tobacco prevention programs and the governor recognized that and saw it as the most important for our state and that's why he included eight hundred and seventy five thousand dollars last year to institute new youth tobacco prevention programs.

Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Spokesperson Aaron Doeppers says the money is not being spent correctly.

He says an initiatve to increase cigarette sales tax would use revenue to fund a tobacco prevention program.

From the State Capitol, I"m Kelly Snyder.

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A study by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids released today finds Missouri spends less money on tobacco prevention than any other state.

Kelly Snyder has more on the state's lack of funding.

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The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids reports tobacco settlements in Missouri add up to more than two hundred million dollars.

Not one cent is being spent on youth tobacco prevention.

Democratic Senator Yvonne Wilson sponsored a bill last year that would have put all tobacco settlement funds into a youth tobacco prevention program.

Wilson says the money is not being spent correctly.

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Contents: I am really appalled that the state would collect all of that money that came from the tobacco settlements and not use any of it for the purpose of developing programs that address smoking that causes so many deaths in our state.

Governor Spokesperson Jessica Robinson says the governor recommended the state spend more than eight hundred thousand dollars on a youth tobacco program, but it did not make it through the legislative process.

From the State Capitol, I'm Kelly Snyder