New Book Chronicles Oklahoma’s Fight Against Big Tobacco and the Creation of TSET

Historian Bob Burke releases newest title during TSET’s 25th anniversary celebration

OKLAHOMA CITY - A new book explaining the origins of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) and Oklahoma’s historic battle against the tobacco industry was released this week.

“The Battle Against Big Tobacco and the Birth of TSET” was written by acclaimed author, historian and attorney Bob Burke, TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee and TSET Board of Directors member Marshall Snipes. The book debuted during TSET’s 25th anniversary celebration on April 1 in Oklahoma City.  

“Oklahoma’s victorious fight against the tobacco industry in the 1990s was a real-life David-versus-Goliath legal battle, and that success became perpetual with the creation of TSET,” said Burke. “As someone who cares deeply about Oklahoma, history and the law, researching and writing this book was a joy I can’t wait to share with others.”

The book details events from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, in which Oklahoma joined 45 other states in a landmark settlement with the nation’s largest tobacco companies to the creation of TSET and how the agency’s work has evolved over the last quarter century.

While other states opted to spend their annual payments, Oklahoma leaders — through bipartisan cooperation — proposed a long-term investment. In 2000, Oklahoma voters approved the creation of TSET, a constitutionally-protected endowment fund that receives 75 percent of Oklahoma’s annual tobacco settlement payments and spends the earnings on programs to improve health in the state.

“TSET funds research and programs that, collectively, aim to lower tobacco use and obesity rates and the resulting chronic diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes,” said TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee. “This couldn’t happen without the endowment our state leaders had the foresight to create and voters approved. I greatly appreciate Bob Burke helping us capture the story of TSET’s origins.”

Copies of the book will be distributed to public libraries across the state and can be purchased at Scissortail Gifts inside the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. TSET does not profit from the sale of the books.

For more information about TSET, visit Oklahoma.gov/TSET.

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The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) serves as a partner and bridge builder for organizations shaping a healthier future for all Oklahomans. TSET provides leadership at the intersections of health by working with local coalitions and initiatives across the state, cultivating innovative and life-changing research and working across public and private sectors to develop, support, implement and evaluate creative strategies to take advantage of emerging opportunities to improve the public’s health. To learn more, go to Oklahoma.gov/TSET.  

TSET – Better Lives Through Better Health