CONCLUSION

            The Massachusetts Restaurant Association and the tobacco industry have been allies in the battle against state and local smoking restrictions in Massachusetts since at least 1978.  The considerable collection of industry documents, which are now publicly accessible via the Internet, testifies to the lengthy history of collaboration between the two parties.  They have joined forces to sponsor and oppose tobacco-related bills in the Massachusetts legislature and in localities across the state, as well as collaborated on local restaurant restriction rollbacks.  Tobacco industry documents also reveal that the tobacco industry has cultivated similar relationships with restaurant associations in states throughout the country.

As a non-profit trade association for the Massachusetts food and beverage industry, the MRA claims to be concerned first and foremost with its restauranteurs and their businesses.  The study commissioned by the MRA in 1996 showed that smoking bans actually benefit food service establishments in certain types of towns.  However, the MRA ignored this data in order to continue to align itself with the tobacco industry's position - that smoking bans or severe smoking restrictions are universally detrimental to restaurants.  Given this fact, owners and proprietors of eating and drinking establishments in Massachusetts, as well as state and local policymakers, should be suspicious of the motives and actions of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.