It’s been ten years since the big tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). In 1998, the nation’s big cancer stick manufacturers signed the contract with the Attorneys General of 46 states, territories and Washington, D.C.

Here’s a quickie refresher on the basic purposes of the agreement: to resolve litigation brought by the states for health care reimbursement (everyone is dying of the tobacco cancer); to impose restrictions on tobacco marketing (no cartoons, no advertising on buses, etc) and advertising methods that were contributing significantly to the youth smoking epidemic; and to reduce (hopefully end) youth smoking and promote public health.

The MSA allows public access to tobacco company documents and required AGs be provided with $50 million for enforcement and implementation of the agreement. So check them out. See the Kentucky tobacco directory by clicking here.

We’re not one to tout anything like this (It’s a slow a news day…) usually, since we’d love nothing more than for all of these companies to disappear entirely, but it’s significant news. Youth smoking rates have declined significantly. 12th graders who reported smoking at least once in the past 30 days has declined from 34.6% in 1999 to 21.6% in 2006. The percentage of 12-17-year-olds who report currently smoking has fallen from 20.9% in 1991 to 10.8% in 2005.

Read the rest of this boring post after the jump…

And… according to a press release from the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy, an evaluation confirms that the tobacco settlement investments ($209 million in the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund) have created positive impacts on Kentucky’s economy.

Highlights of the evaluation include:

• Investments in non-model projects have involved about 50,000 tobacco farmers.
• The KADF’s investments in non-model projects have had a significant positive impact on agriculture and agribusiness. From 2001 to 2007, the $86 million in-vested has resulted in an estimated $161 million in additional farm income, through market expansion creation of new markets.
• On average, every dollar invested from the KADF in non-model projects resulted in $1.87 of additional farm income. Additional income was highest for marketing and promotion ($3.19) and livestock ($3.15). Project participants leveraged $96 million in additional funding.
• Model programs designed to improve on-farm efficiency and provide up to 50 percent of the cost of the project to participants, accounted for nearly $100 million invested with over 72,000 participants.
• Within the Kentucky Agricultural Finance Corporation (KAFC) the Beginning Farmer Loan Program stood out in the evaluation because it directly addresses the issues of barrier to entry for new farmers and intergenerational transfer of farm ownership, making it a key loan product. KAFC completed 36 Beginning Farmers Loans as of May 2008.

Click here to visit the GOAP’s website for the complete evaluation and executive summary.

One other interesting note: Kentucky receives 1.76% of settlement funds.