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Smoking costs $1 trillion, soon to kill 8 million a year - WHO/NCI study

By Tom Miles

 

A customer smokes a cigarette in a cafe in Prague, Czech Republic, May 25, 2016. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo

 

GENEVA (Reuters) - Smoking costs the global economy more than $1 trillion a year, and will kill one third more people by 2030 than it does now, according to a study by the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Cancer Institute published on Tuesday.

 

That cost far outweighs global revenues from tobacco taxes, which the WHO estimated at about $269 billion in 2013-2014.

 

"The number of tobacco-related deaths is projected to increase from about 6 million deaths annually to about 8 million annually by 2030, with more than 80 percent of these occurring in LMICs (low- and middle-income countries)," the study said.

 

Around 80 percent of smokers live in such countries, and although smoking prevalence was falling among the global population, the total number of smokers worldwide is rising, it said.

 

Health experts say tobacco use is the single biggest preventable cause of death globally.

 

"It is responsible for... likely over $1 trillion in health care costs and lost productivity each year," said the study, peer-reviewed by more than 70 scientific experts.

 

The economic costs are expected to continue to rise, and although governments have the tools to reduce tobacco use and associated deaths, most have fallen far short of using those tools effectively, said the 688-page report.

 

"Government fears that tobacco control will have an adverse economic impact are not justified by the evidence. The science is clear; the time for action is now."

 

HOW TO QUIT

 

Cheap and effective policies included hiking tobacco taxes and prices, comprehensive smoke-free policies, complete bans on tobacco company marketing, and prominent pictorial warning labels.

 

Tobacco taxes could also be used to fund more expensive interventions such as anti-tobacco mass media campaigns and support for cessation services and treatments, it said.

 

Governments spent less than $1 billion on tobacco control in 2013-2014, according to a WHO estimate.

 

Tobacco regulation meanwhile is reaching a crunch point because of a trade dispute brought by Cuba, Indonesia, Honduras and Dominican Republic against Australia's stringent "plain packaging" laws, which enforce standardised designs on tobacco products and ban distinctive logos and colourful branding.

 

The World Trade Organization is expected to rule on the complaint this year. Australia's policy is being closely watched by other countries that are considering similar policies, including Norway, Slovenia, Canada, Singapore, Belgium and South Africa, the study said.

 

(Reporting by Tom Miles Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-01-10

[AhFarangJa]

Governments do not want to stop it. they claw in far too much in taxes.....far more than costs the health service to treat smokers..... We all know that the tax goes into a central pot, not to health services...

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

"It is responsible for... likely over $1 trillion in health care costs and lost productivity each year," said the study, peer-reviewed by more than 70 scientific experts.

Yes and the tobacco companies are crying all the way to the bank. They are now eyeing the medical marijuana market which will boom in years to come. Its becoming more and more legal. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

Presumably most of the tobacco related deaths happen in the senior years when most people are already retired. If the 8 million people (per year) live an extra 5-10 years social security would surely go bust.

[canuckamuck]

That people still smoke in 2017 says a lot about the ability of people to live in denial and the hypocrisy of governments that benefit from it.

[puukao]

kids who smoke think they are invincible, no matter what news they read or whatever they see with their own eyes.  some idiots some in college because they want to be thin.......and then the guy in his 40's to 60's because they hate themselves so much they want everyone to die around them.  over 60 and they wish their lungs would turn black immediately to never see the sun again..... lol

 

do you mind if i smoke?

do you mind if i fart?

[jak2002003]

Seems good news.. 8 million a year going.. keeps the population down.  They are going to die of something in the end anyway, and if they are stupid enough to want to smoke then that's up to them.

 

 

[xtrnuno41]

Shall we go on mentioning some other ways of making you dying:

We put lead in the petrol for many years, happily just one man showed and fought it was wrong Now we put other additions to it. consequences?

Chernobyl blew up and spread nuclear material all over Europe, many reactors still running.  Fine dust still a big issue.   In PET bottles, chemical substances dissolve in the fluid, which you drink. consequences?

Many years of painting , gives you OPD or other diseases.  In Holland (guess way more countries) they used chrome containing paint for military vehicles.  The people got sick and now have to fight for their right. Poisoned by own government.  If you are working in chemical plant, you have lots of shit. In my beginning time there was still gaskets made of asbestos, which you sometimes shaped with a file.

You even used it in your kitchen for low heating food !!

There was even  a chemical, if you smelled it, you were way above the max limit, could cause cancer. And there were many more.  Yeah smoking could give you cancer, but governments profit a lot of smoking, for instance Holland 75 % is for government and Thailand even 90 % .

Meat we eat comes from animals which are treated with antibiotics, so now bacteria and viruses get resistant to antibiotics and for us don't work anymore, so you die of an infection not longer possible to fight with antibiotics.

CO2 level is sky high and by coinsedance they discoverd a way to convert it cheap into methanol. This invention should have priority nr 1 to make it work in big scale. But probably is bought and put on a shelf, as happens with many good inventions.

Australia used viruses to kill rabbits, first on an island to test, it worked very good. However it was airborn and automatically all Australia was done ! Now they want to use a herpes virus fighting carps over there. consequences?

You ever saw the listing of 2016 of killed animals by big numbers in misterious ways?!  But of course only smoking, which gives lots of profits is THE killer.

[Grubster]

How does 8 million less people per year work out to a cost of a trillion dollars lost? They don't get their pensions, they don't collect any other government handouts, they don't use any further medical care.  I don't get it at all.  I have smoked all my life and if I die tomorrow of heart failure at 61 all the guys who didn't smoke in my pension system will benefit from my death no? The government nor anybody else will have to pay for my heath care and well being for the next thirty years will they? I have created jobs by smoking haven't I? I have paid a lot of tax for smoking haven't I?  What a load of crap they are selling here. 

[Grubster]

I could support a total ban on smoking, but I guess we all know why that will never happen.

[Ulysses G.]

2 hours ago, Grubster said:

I could support a total ban on smoking, but I guess we all know why that will never happen.

 

My main problem with smoking is that it stinks and makes the surroundings unpleasant for others. However, as far as I can tell, the only thing "pleasurable" about it, is becoming addicted and then feeding that addiction. It just seems really foolish to me to do something so unhealthy for such a stupid reason. Vaping does not stink and it seems like it would be healthier, perhaps that is the answer.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Ulysses G.

[Grubster]

10 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

My main problem with smoking is that it stinks and makes the surroundings unpleasant for others. However, as far as I can tell, the only thing "pleasurable" about it, is becoming addicted and then feeding that addiction. It just seems really foolish to me to do something so unhealthy for such a stupid reason. Vaping does not stink and it seems like it would be healthier, perhaps that is the answer.

They put a total ban on Vaping here, I wonder why.