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Follow on Google News |  French Smoking Hits Taxpayers' Pocketbooks Twice // Habit Doubles Unemployment Risk, Notes ASHResidents of France who continue to smoke are imposing huge costs on the great majority of the French who do not smoke, notes Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in response to a new report that about 50% of all the unemployed in France are smokers.
By: Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Almost Half of all French Unemployed Continue to Smoke Residents of France who continue to smoke are imposing huge costs on the great majority of the French who do not smoke, notes Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in response to a new report that about 50% of all the unemployed in France are smokers. Among the general population, the percentage is only 20%. http://translate.google.com/ This data suggests that smokers are more than twice as likely to become unemployed, and therefore inflate the public welfare costs of assisting them, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of ASH. In addition, whether adults are employed or not, their smoking is the major preventable cause of medical care expense in virtually all western countries, so nonsmoking taxpayers and businesses are forced to pay even higher taxes to cover the huge medical, disability, lost of productivity, and other costs of smoking. Also, a very recent study pointed out that, at least in some countries, smokers waste an hour a day during smoking breaks not likewise available to nonsmokers, for a total cost to the employer of about one year of wages during a typical lifetime. http://www.prlog.org/ A trial in the U.S., in which the judge upheld the legal right of governments to refuse to hire smokers, revealed that each smoking worker can cost his employer more than $12,000 a year in added medical care cost, extra disability, time lost from work, loss of productivity, and other costs. http://ash.org/$ Although the french has banned smoking in cafes, bars, and restaurants, and use tough antismoking messages -- including a few which some argue border on pornographic -- smoking is increasing among the young in France, suggesting that the habit will impose even higher costs as the children grow up and enter the labor market. The most controversial French antismoking ad says “To smoke is to be a slave to tobacco.” It includes "photographs of an older man, his torso seen from the side, pushing down on the head of a teenage girl with a cigarette in her mouth. Her eyes are at belt level, glancing upward fearfully. The cigarette appears to emerge from the adult’s trousers." http://www.nytimes.com/ Many countries are doing far more than France to curb smoking by both children and adults, notes ASH, increasingly because they see the problem as a major economic one as well as a health issue. In the U.S., for example, where the cost of smoking far exceeds the costs of national health reform, Congress has approved surcharges of 50$ on health insurance for smokers. "Smoking may once have been a cultural tradition in France, but it is now an economic catastrophe. The French may have to get even tougher to prevent it from causing even more damage to an already ailing economy," suggests Banzhaf. PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III Professor of Public Interest Law at GWU, FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor, FELLOW, World Technology Network, and Executive Director and Chief Counsel Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) America’s First Antismoking Organization 2013 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20006, USA (202) 659-4310 // (703) 527-8418 Internet: http://ash.org/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/ # # # Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first anti-smoking and nonsmokers' rights organization, serves as the legal action arm of the anti-smoking community. It is supported by tax-deductible contributions. End
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