Critics assailed the Justice Department's decision to sharply reduce the settlement the government is asking for in the racketeering case against Big Tobacco. Yesterday, government lawyers dropped a bombshell when they announced that they will ask the tobacco industry to pay $10 billion for smoking cessation programs over the next five years, a figure substantially lower than the $130 billion estimate over 25 years many experts had expected. The news has provoked anger in health policy circles and calls for an investigation in Washington.
- see this story from the Los Angeles Times