Gov. Jay Nixon has been appointed to serve a three-year term on the board of Washington, D.C.-based American Legacy Foundation, a national public health nonprofit foundation that provides grants for and gears campaigns toward preventing smoking.
Cheryl Healton, Legacy president and CEO, said in a news release that while Nixon served as the state's attorney general, he was one of the original signatories of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between tobacco companies and the states, which created Legacy.
“The work of the attorneys general paved the way for more than a decade of public health successes in tobacco control that continue today, and I am confident the board will benefit from Gov. Nixon’s passion for protecting youth and public health," she said in the release.
Legacy is behind truth, an advertisement campaign established in February 2000 to combat youth smoking, according to its
Web site.
The nonprofit also has made more than $150 million in grants to support community-based anti-smoking efforts and tobacco control programs, according to the
site.
“Because the vast majority of adult smokers began as teens, focusing on preventing teen smoking can have a tremendous impact on adult smoking trends and the incidence of smoking-related illnesses like cancer and heart disease,” Nixon said in the release. “I look forward to using this opportunity to help Americans live longer, healthier lives.”[[In-content Ad]]