Firms in Mexico to Pay $350 Million

Tobacco firms operating in Mexico will pay $350 million over three years to help offset the costs of caring for people who have become ill from smoking, President Vicente Fox said.

The companies, starting in August, will contribute according to the number of cigarettes they sell in Mexico. Fox said the fund would total about $350 million by the time his term ends in December 2006.

Mexico’s $2-billion-a-year tobacco industry is in the hands of Cigatam -- a joint venture between Philip Morris, a unit of U.S.-based Altria Group Inc., and Mexican magnate Carlos Slim’s conglomerate Grupo Carso -- and Cigarrera La Moderna, an affiliate of British American Tobacco.