A report has found that South Carolina ranks 38th nationally among states in paying for programs to protect children from tobacco use.

The report, “A Broken Promise to Our Children,” found that the state spends $2 million per year on tobacco prevention programs. That’s 8.4 percent of the minimum amount of $23.9 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the report.

It found:

• tobacco companies spend more than $299 million a year on marketing in South Carolina, and
• the state will collect $100.8 million from the tobacco settlement and in tobacco taxes, but is spending just 2 percent on tobacco use prevention among children.

Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, said the bulk of the tobacco settlement money was spent on local needs before Sanford took office.

“It was policymakers’ decision to spend that money locally on projects as opposed to funding on the statewide level for tobacco prevention,” Sawyer said. The money was spent on local infrastructure projects, he said.

“There’s virtually very little money left at the state level from the tobacco settlement,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer said the governor signed the Youth Access to Tobacco Prevention bill this year, which creates fines for retailers and minors who purchase cigarettes.

The administration “also remains very open to the idea of increasing the cigarette tax, but we’ve made it clear that would have to come with a corresponding tax decrease,” he said.

The report was developed by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association.