GO TO SOURCE


ATLANTA, GEORGIA, April 11, 2002: Lighting up a cigarette, according to a study recently completed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is costing the country US$3,391 a year per smoker, or $157.7 billion annually for the whole nation. Breaking the cost down, the CDC study estimates that the habit costs $3.45 per pack for medical costs incurred by the smoker and another $3.73 per pack for lost job productivity as a result of early deaths. Considering that in 1999, a pack of cigarettes cost $2.92, society is nowhere near recovering the cost from taxes on the product. Dr. David Fleming, the CDC’s acting director says, “The fact that nearly half a million Americans lose their lives each year because of smoking-related illnesses is a significant public health tragedy.” The article goes on to list other statistics such as, “Smoking causes an average man to lose more than 13 years of life and an average woman to lose 14.5 years” and that “Smoking during pregnancy causes 1,000 infant deaths each year.”

Post Views: 245