What does a pack of cigarettes cost a smoker, the smoker's family, and society? This longitudinal study on the private and social costs of smoking calculates that the cost of smoking to a 24-year-old woman smoker is $86,000 over a lifetime; for a 24-year-old male smoker the cost is $183,000. The total social cost of smoking over a lifetime—including both private costs to the smoker and costs imposed on others (including second-hand smoke and costs of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security)—comes to $106,000 for a woman and $220,000 for a man. The cost per pack over a lifetime of smoking: almost $40.00. The first study to quantify the cost of smoking in this way, or in such depth, this accessible book not only adds a weapon to the arsenal of antismoking messages but also provides a framework for assessment that can be applied to other health behaviors. The findings on the effects of smoking on Medicare and Medicaid will be surprising and perhaps controversial, for the authors estimate the costs to be much lower than the damage awards being paid to 46 states as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

Quantification of the costs of smoking for the individual smoker and of the costs imposed on family and society.

Quantification of the costs of smoking for the individual smoker and of the costs imposed on family and society.

Tobacco use kills more people than any other addiction and we know that addiction starts in childhood and youth. We all agree that youths should not smoke, but how can this be accomplished? What prevention messages will they find compelling? What effect does tobacco advertisingâ€"more than $10 million worth every dayâ€"have on youths? Can we responsibly and effectively restrict their access to tobacco products? These questions and more are addressed in Growing Up Tobacco Free, prepared by the Institute of Medicine to help everyone understand the troubling issues surrounding youths and tobacco use. Growing Up Tobacco Free provides a readable explanation of nicotine's effects and the process of addiction, and documents the search for an effective approach to preventing the use of cigarettes, chewing and spitting tobacco, and snuff by children and youths. It covers the results of recent initiatives to limit young people's access to tobacco and discusses approaches to controls or bans on tobacco sales, price sensitivity among adolescents, and arguments for and against taxation as a prevention strategy for tobacco use. The controversial area of tobacco advertising is thoroughly examined. With clear guidelines for public action, everyone can benefit by reading and acting on the messages in this comprehensive and compelling book.

Tobacco is reported to be the second major cause of death in the world and there is ever-increasing interest in the costs of smoking, especially in the light of evidence of the health effects of second-hand smoke. This book brings together the findings of economists on the effectiveness of price and non-price policy initiatives to combat smoking and draws conclusions regarding the efficacy of the various policy measures. The authors evaluate the relative effectiveness of price-based smoking control policies (i.e. tax) in relation to non-price strategies (including advertising restrictions, sales restrictions, territorial restrictions and health warnings). They review evidence not only from the US but also from around the world, drawing important conclusions for developing countries where smoking is on the rise. The book will be essential reading for policy makers, health practitioners and researchers in health economics.

This new volume of the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention in Tobacco Control presents a critical review and evaluation of the evidence by 25 international experts from twelve countries on the economics, epidemiology, public policy and tobacco control aspects of tax and price policies. The working group draws conclusions about the effectiveness of tax and price measures to control tobacco use in the population. The Handbook covers an overview of tobacco taxation; industry pricing strategies and other industry initiatives diluting the effects of taxes on consumption; tax, price and aggregated demand for tobacco, as well as demand at the individual level in adults, young people and the economically disadvantaged; tax avoidance and tax evasion and the economic and health impacts of tobacco taxation. This body of evidence and the consensus evaluation of 18 concluding statements on the impact of interventions to increase the price of tobacco products, can assist policy makers, government officials, evaluators and researchers working in tobacco control and disease prevention, to base their decisions on the latest scientific evidence.

The story of tobacco’s fortunes seems simple: science triumphed over addiction and profit. Yet the reality is more complicated—and more political. Historically it was not just bad habits but also the state that lifted the tobacco industry. What brought about change was not medical advice but organized pressure: a movement for nonsmoker’s rights.