Pack of cigs adds $7 in medical and other costs

May 13, 2002

NEW YORK, Apr 11 (Reuters Health) - Whenever a pack of cigarettes is

sold in the US, another $7.18 is added to the taxpayer's bill in terms

of medical costs and lost productivity, the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention reported on Thursday.

About 22 billion packs of cigarettes are sold in the US each year,

costing a total of $157 billion in health-related costs, according to

estimates based on 1999 smoking habits.

" Cigarette smoking continues to be the principal cause of premature

death in the United States and imposes substantial costs on society, "

according to the report in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly

Report for April 12.

In 1995-1999, the years CDC researchers studied, more than 260,000 men

and 178,000 women died every year due to smoking, either from lung

cancer, heart disease or emphysema.

About 600 baby boys and 400 baby girls died each year during that time

period because their mothers smoked during pregnancy, according to CDC

estimates. And about $366 million--or $704 per pregnant smoker--was

spent in 1996 caring for infants injured by cigarette smoke.

Overall, smoking killed nearly half a million people each year in the

late 1990s, including about 35,000 people who died of heart disease due

to secondhand smoke.

" The economic costs of smoking totaled $3,391 per smoker per year, " the

report indicates.

The estimates did not include deaths attributable to cigars, pipe

smoking or smokeless tobacco. Also, the CDC researchers point out that

the deaths and health effects in the late 1990s were due to cigarettes

purchased and smoked in the past, when smoking rates were higher.

" These results offer evidence of the potential benefits of expanding

comprehensive tobacco-control programs in an effort to reduce current

smoking prevalence by 50% by 2010, " according to the report.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2002;51:300-302.

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