Phillip
Morris Wins When People Die...
"Indirect positive effects [of
tobacco sales] include
savings in public health-care costs and state pensions due to early
mortality of smokers, and savings on public costs related to
the support of the elderly."
From a report
prepared by Arthur D. Little company for Phillip Morris
entitled: "Public
Finance Balance of Smoking in the Czech Republic."
According
to a 7/16/01 Wall Street Journal article by Gordon Fairclough, the Arthur Little report, commissioned
and released by Phillip Morris, concludes that:
"The premature demise of smokers saved the Czech
government between 943 million koruna and 1.19 billion
koruna (between $23.8 million and $30.1 million or
between 20.3 million euros and 25.7 million euros) on
health care, pensions and housing for the elderly in
1999. The report also calculates the costs of smoking,
such as the expense of caring for sick smokers and
people made ill by second-hand smoke as well as income
taxes lost when smokers die. Weighing
the costs and benefits, the report concludes that in
1999 the government had a net gain of 5.82 billion
koruna ($147.1 million) from smoking."
The
Phillip Morris report is crystal
clear: When people die prematurely there is a win-win
for Phillip Morris and a country's health care system-
people die sooner and therefore never grow old and
burden the state with age related health care, pension
and housing costs. Hitler
was no less cynical and evil.
As for the real global
economic impact of tobacco, see the World Bank Report,
"Economics
of Tobacco Control." Quoting from the
report's conclusion:
"Where governments
decide to take strong action to curb the tobacco
epidemic, a multi-pronged strategy should be adopted. Its
aims should be to deter children from smoking, to
protect nonsmokers, and to provide all smokers with
information about the health effects of tobacco. The
strategy, tailored to individual country needs, would
include: (1) raising taxes, using as a yardstick the
rates adopted by countries with comprehensive tobacco
control policies where consumption has fallen. In these
countries, tax accounts for two-thirds to four-fifths of
the re-tail price of cigarettes; (2) publishing and
disseminating research results on the health effects of
tobacco, adding prominent warning labels to cigarettes,
adopting comprehensive bans on advertising and
promotion, and restricting smoking in workplaces and
public places; and (3) widening access to nicotine
replacement and other cessation therapies."
