THE US: Cigarette smoking costs the US economy some $157 billion a year in medical care and lost productivity, or $7 for every packet of cigarettes sold, a new study from the Centres for Disease Control and prevention has found, reports Patrick Smyth from Washington
That's a cost of $3,391 per smoker. The agency's study, based on data from the 1995-1999 period, estimated the nation's smoking-related medical costs at $3.45 per pack, and said job productivity lost because of premature death from smoking amounted to $3.73 per pack, for a total of $7.18.
"There's a big difference in the cost to society and what society is getting back in tax," said the CDC's Dr Terry Pechacek. "We believe society is bearing a burden for the individual behavioural choices of the smokers." The agency also reported that smoking results in about 440,000 deaths a year in the US. It finds that smoking causes men to lose more than 13 years of life, and women to lose 14.5 years. Smoking during pregnancy causes about 1,000 infant deaths each year.
"The fact that nearly half a million Americans lose their lives each year because of smoking-related illnesses is a significant public health tragedy," said Dr David Fleming, the CDC's acting director.