Industry Tells Government Tobacco Deaths Save MoneyJuly 17, 2001
Research Summary
Anti-tobacco activists are outraged at a report commissioned by Philip Morris that credits the premature deaths of smokers for cost savings realized by the Czech government, Reuters reported July 16.According to the report, the early deaths of smokers saved the Czech government between $24 million to $30.3 million on health care, pensions, and housing for the elderly in 1999. Philip Morris commissioned the report to gain economic data for the debate over how much health care for smokers costs the country.
"I think it's pretty egregious," said Richard Daynard, a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., and chairman of the Tobacco Products Liability Project. "You don't see other companies doing it. This is not the normal way we think about the lives of citizens, that the government benefits when they die off prematurely."
"Even if it were true that smokers dying young would save money for the economy, it's a real scary logic on which to base policy," said Patti Lynn, associate campaign director for the corporate watchdog group Infact.
COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE: