The article "Tobacco Settlement: Where's the Money?"1 brings up many important issues related to the allocation of state tobacco settlement funds. What the article did not mention, though, was that the public strongly supports spending the tobacco settlement funds on medical research.
Ninety-one percent of those polled this year by Research!America, a nonprofit education and advocacy organization, favored spending a portion of the tobacco settlement funds on medical research. The same poll indicates that 84 percent support spending the settlement on youth antismoking education, the result of public health and behavioral health research.
Public support for spending the tobacco settlement funds on research demonstrates confidence in the researchers who are working to unlock the secrets of illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. Given that only 1 percent of the federal budget is spent on research and prevention for all diseases and disabilities, support for research at the state level ...
