Tobacco Documents Online

asbestos worker who smokes is ten times more likely to die prematurely than his nonsmoking coworkers. A smoking uranium miner has six times the risk of contracting lung cancer as a nonsmoker in the same job.4 In addition, many health consequences of smoking translate directly into increased health care costs, since employers pay for a major portion of these costs for their employees, dependents, and retirees. o Heavy smokers (two or more packs a day) are 15 to 25 times more likely to die of lung cancer than nonsmokers, and overall, smokers are ten times more likely to die of lung cancer than nonsmokers.11 o Eighty to 90 percent of such long term severe lung diseases as emphysema and chronic bronchitis are related to smoking.1Z o It is estimated that 30 percent of all cancers are caused by smoking. That means that 138,000 Americans died of cancer in 1986 because of smoking.12 "Heavy smokers are three to four times more likely to die of cancer than nonsmokers and overall, the risk to smokers is two times greater than for those who don't smoke.11 c More than 550,000 Americans will die of coronary heart disease this year, and up to 30 percent of those deaths will be attributable to cigarette smoking.13 o Heavy smokers have a 200 percent greater risk of dying from m I GO 179 O CD N GO

Nonsmokers & Smokers. 1983. New York, New York. 11. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Smoking and Health. The Health Conseauences of Smokina-- Cancer: A Reoort of the Suraeon General. U.S. Government Printing office. 1982. Washington, DC. 12. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Smoking and Health. The Health Consecuences of Smokinc-- Chronic Obstructive Lunc Disease: A Renort of the Surgeon General. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984. Washington, DC. 13. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Smoking and Health. The Health Conseauences of Smokina-- Cardiovascular Disease: A Reeort of the Suraeon General. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1983. Washington, DC. 14. Milliman a Robertson, Inc. Health Risk and Behavior: The Impact on Medical Costs. 1987, Brookfield, WI. 15. Rice, DP and TA Hodgson, "Economic Costs of Smoking: An Analysis of Data for the U.S.," presented at the Allied Social Science Association annual meeting, San Francisco, CA Dec. 28, 1983. 16. Behrens, RA. Reducing Smokina at the Worknlace. Washington Business Group on Health. Oct 1985 Washington, DC. 17. Abbott, RD, et a., "Risk of Stroke in Male Cigarette Smokers," New Enoland Journal of Medicine, Sept. 18, 1986 315:717-20. 18. DiFranza, JR, et al, "The relationship of smoking to motor 184

o smokers' more frequent use of alcohol and drugs, o smokers' greater risk-taking behavior, and o smokers' diminished attention to driving due to the distractions associated with smoking.16 Individual Comcanies Document Costs. Consecuences of emokinc While studies conducted by individual companies have varying degrees of validity, they do offer some further insights into the price businesses pay for their smoking employees. In a study of 40,000 employees at 27 locations of the Control Data Corporation, CDC found that smokers cost the company substantially more in health related costs than nonsmokers. The study, using health data collected from 1981 to 1984, found: o Smokers of one pack of cigarettes per day or more generate health claims 16 percent higher than nonsmokers. o Smokers of one cigarette to one pack per day accrue claims costs 10 percent higher than nonsmokers. o Heavy smokers have 25 percent more inpatient days than their counterparts who do not smoke. o Heavy smokers are 29 percent more likely to have health claims over $5,000 than those who do not smoke.14 One Los Angeles company estimates production losses alone at $675 181

Journal of Medicine 298, 569-571. 1978 2. Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress. "Smoking- Related Deaths and Financial costs." (0TA Staff Memorandum). 1985 Washington, DC. 3. Rice, DP, TA Hodgson, P Sinsheimer, W Browner and AN Kopstein. "The Economic Costs of the Health Effects of Smoking, 1984" The Milbank Quarterly. Vol. 64 , No. 4, 1986. Cambridge University Press. 4. Kristein, MM, "How Much Can Business Expect to Profit from Smoking Cessation?" Preventive Medicine, 12, 358-381, 1983. 5. Weis, WL. "No Ifs, ands or Buts: Why Workplace smoking should be banned" Manavement World, 339-44, Sept 1981. 6. Kristein,MM "Wanted: Smoking Policies for the Work Place," Business and Health, Washington Business Group on Health, Nov. 1984. Washington, DC. 7. Smoking Policy Institute, "The Costs of Smoking in the Workplace," 1986, Seattle, WA. 8. Bureau of National Affairs, "Where There's Smoke: Problems 6 Policies Concerning Smoking in the Workplace," 1986, Washington, DC. 9. U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Office on Smoking and Health. Smokina and Health: A Reoort of the Surueon General. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979, Washington, DC. 10. American Lung Association, "Smoking at the Workplace: The Changing Legal Situation. More Facts & Features for 183