Tobacco Grower Settlement Approval Seen as Political
08/19/99
The schedule of payments to the trust could total as much as $5.15 billion over 12 years,
tobacco companies Philip Morris Inc., R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Co., Brown and Williamson
Tobacco Corp. and Lorillard
Tobacco Co. said.
Though the amount does not stack up monetarily to the $206 billion, 25-year settlement with 46 states and the settlements with four individual states totaling $40 billion,
tobacco analysts said the approval was important for political reasons.
``The Trust will keep keep
tobacco state lawmakers allied with the interests of
tobacco industry,'' David Adelman, analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter said. "It's one thing if five farmers dominated
tobacco farming, but there are tens of thousands of
tobacco farmers and quota holders and that is where the votes are.
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