Women and tobacco: with the master settlement agreement, we've come a long way, baby!

This commentary provides a brief overview of the impact tobacco has on the health of women. Tobacco control activities that reduce the number of young people who start smoking, reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and increase the ability of Americans to successfully quit have the capacity to markedly reduce the toll of tobacco. The efforts can be greatly enhanced by the unprecedented opportunity the master settlement agreement (MSA) between the state attorneys general and the tobacco industry presents for directing resources to those policies and programs that are most effective in stemming tobacco use. The relentless increase in tobacco marketing reaching teens and ethnic minority women makes ever more urgent our concerted efforts to confront those policy initiatives that can ensure the MSA is adhered to fully.