Tobacco Company Tells Czech Republic: Smoking Deaths Save Money
July 20, 2001
A recent report given to the Czech Republic by Philip Morris is getting a lot of attention from anti-smoking groups. The report told the government that its healthcare costs were actually decreased by citizens' increasing tobacco use. Findings flaunted the fact that smokers generally die earlier, which decreases the government's long-term healthcare costs.
Arthur D. Little International conducted the research for tobacco company Philip Morris. According to the report, the government saved $30 million in healthcare, pensions and elderly housing. It declared that smoking had a "positive" effect on the Czech Republic's finances.
Campaign for Tobacco-Free kids and British group Action on Smoking and Health are angered by the tobacco industry's reckless disregard for life and attempts to convince the Czech government not to regulate tobacco use.
Representatives from Philip Morris' Switzerland headquarters apologized for any inference that smokers' untimely deaths were beneficial to society. Philip Morris sells 80% of the cigarettes in the republic.
The study relied on two basic premises: that smokers have a reduced life span and that secondhand smoke is harmful to nonsmokers. It found that the government spent the majority of its healthcare funds on treating smokers and victims of secondhand smoke.
Philip Morris' head of public relations in the Czech Republic said that they solicited the report to prevent the Czech parliament from raising tobacco taxes in response to the Czech Health Ministry's research indicating that the government was losing money due to smoking's growing popularity.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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