Tagged: smoking

Reporting from KCUR's Elana Gordon used in this report.

A decade ago, more than one in four Missourians smoked. Now, only about one in five smoke, and those who do smoke are doing so less often.

Philip Morris USA and other major tobacco companies won a favorable verdict Friday in a lawsuit filed by 37 Missouri hospitals seeking more than $455 million for treating sick smokers.

Philip Morris USA was one of six tobacco companies involved in the lawsuit.

The hospitals had claimed cigarette companies delivered an "unreasonably dangerous" product and were seeking reimbursement back to 1993 for treating patients who had no insurance and did not pay their bills.

It will be harder to find a place to smoke on the University of Missouri's Columbia campus this summer.

Starting July 1, smoking will be allowed only in designated areas. The smoking areas aren't final yet, but they are likely to be in parking lots and on the top floors of parking garages.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that the stricter rules are a step toward the university's goal of being entirely smoke-free by Jan. 1, 2014.

The university's current policy prohibits smoking within 20 feet of doors, windows and fresh air intake systems on campus. The Tribune reports that the policy is not strictly enforced, with campus administrators mostly leaving it to students and employees to police each other.