In countries where
there is a public health system, society covers the cost of
medical care for smokers who become ill through in the form of
increased taxes. Two arguments exist on this front, the
"pro-smoking" argument suggesting that heavy smokers generally
don't live long enough to develop the costly and chronic
illnesses which affect the elderly, reducing society's
healthcare burden. The "anti-smoking" argument suggests that the
healthcare burden is increased because smokers get chronic
illnesses younger and at a higher rate than the general
population.
Data on both positions is limited. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention published research in 2002 claiming that
the cost of each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States
was more than $7 in medical care and lost productivity. The cost
may be higher, with another study putting it as high as $41 per
pack, most of which however is on the individual and his/her
family. This is how one author of that study puts it when he
explains the very low cost for others: "The reason the number is
low is that for private pensions, Social Security, and Medicare
— the biggest factors in calculating costs to society — smoking
actually saves money. Smokers die at a younger age and don't
draw on the funds they've paid into those systems.
By contrast, some non-scientific studies, including one
conducted by Philip Morris in the Czech Republic and another by
the Cato Institute, support the opposite position. Neither study
was peer-reviewed nor published in a scientific journal, and the
Cato Institute have received funding from tobacco companies in
the past. Philip Morris has explicitly apologised for the former
study, saying: "The funding and public release of this study
which, among other things, detailed purported cost savings to
the Czech Republic due to premature deaths of smokers, exhibited
terrible judgment as well as a complete and unacceptable
disregard of basic human values. For one of our tobacco
companies to commission this study was not just a terrible
mistake, it was wrong. All of us at Philip Morris, no matter
where we work, are extremely sorry for this. No one benefits
from the very real, serious and significant diseases caused by
smoking.
Tobacco and other drugs
>>
|
Tobacco smoking
Methods of smoking
Health effects
1.
Establishing a link between smoking and health effects
2. Health risks of smoking
2.1 Carcinogenicity
2.2 Effects on the heart
2.3 Smoker's attitudes
3. Passive smoking
4. Somatic and psychological effects
5. Mood and anxiety disorders
6. Health benefits of smoking
Effects of the habit and
industry on society
1. Effect on healthcare costs
2. Tobacco and other drugs
3. Advertising
4. Peer pressure
5. Parental smoking
6. Smoking in movies and television
7. The use of smoking to project an image
Religious views
on smoking Smoking cessation
Legal issues and
regulation
1. Age restrictions
2. Taxation
3. Restrictions on cigarette advertising
4. Package warnings
5. Smoking bans
|
