HEALTH REALITIES

The cigarette is a weapon of mass destruction of global proportion, killing more than 13,000 people

around the world every day, or 4.9 million annually. Source: WHO, 2002.

---

COSTS

Very few countries have comprehensive data on either the credit or debit of tobacco to the

economy; less than 10 have collected limited data on tobacco-attributable health care costs, and

most of these are developed countries. In the USA, smoking accounted for 6% of total health care

expenses in 1999.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control, USA. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of

Potential Life Lost, and Economic Costs --- United States, 1995—1999. MMWR Weekly April 12,

2002. 51(14):300-303.

Warner KE, Hodgson TA, Carroll CE. Medical costs of smoking in the United States: estimates, their

validity, and their implications. Tobacco Control 1999;8:290‑300 ( Autumn ).

---

RESEARCH SPENDING

Global research and development funding for tobacco: US$665 million, of which $500 m is spent in

the USA.

Source: Baris E. The role of research for international tobacco control. Bulletin Medicus Mundi, no.

72, April 1999.

USA: Research Funding for Major Diseases Compared to Tobacco for Every Associated Death

Disease US$ Spent per Associated Death

AIDS $156,000

Tuberculosis $116,000

Asthma $ 47,000

Hypertension $ 15,000

Alzheimers $ 11,000

Diabetes $ 10,000

Cancer $ 8,000

Cardiovascular Disease $ 2,000

Stroke $ 1,400

Tobacco Use $ 1,000

Source: US National Institutes of Health. Research Initiatives/Programs of Interest.