Latest findings by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found cumulative economic losses from cigarette smoking topped $891 billion in 2020, or 4.3% of the USA Gross Domestic Product. The economic loss significantly outpaced the cigarette industry’s $92 billion revenue by nearly a ten-to-one ratio. The study was published today within the journal The Lancet Public Health.
This economic modeling study is considered one of the primary to offer a comprehensive measure of economic loss from cigarette smoking on a state-by-state level. On average, states lost $1,100.00 per capita income annually from cigarette smoking. Kentucky ($1,674.00), West Virginia ($1,605.00) and Arkansas ($1,603.00) suffered the most important per capita income losses, while Utah ($331.00), Idaho ($680.00) and Arizona ($701.00) had the smallest per capita income losses.
“Economic losses from cigarette smoking far outweigh any economic profit from the tobacco industry -; wages, and salaries of those employed by the industry, tax revenue, and industry profit combined,” said Dr. Nigar Nargis, senior scientific director, tobacco control research on the American Cancer Society. “As a society, we are able to mitigate these economic losses through coordinated and comprehensive evidence-based tobacco control measures, which encourage people to quit smoking and forestall people from beginning to smoke in the primary place.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services set the Healthy People 2030 goal to scale back smoking from 14% of the adult population in 2018 to five% by 2030. In response to study authors, reaching this goal through tobacco control efforts on the national, state, and native levels would considerably reduce the economic loss attributable to smoking.
“The Healthy People 2030 goal provides a vital goal that can help reduce smoking and correspondingly the negative economic impact of tobacco use,” said Nargis. “As well as, hitting this goal will help divert scarce resources away from treating tobacco-related illnesses towards growing market productivity and household income.”
“The damage this industry causes on individuals’ lives and our nation’s economy is horrifying,” said Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Motion Network (ACS CAN). “It’s particularly alarming, but not surprising, to see a number of the states with the best economic loss have the weakest tobacco control policies in place. We all know what works to scale back tobacco use and lessen this burden and it’s past time we get it done. Passing policies proven to scale back tobacco use including regular and significant tobacco tax increases, adequate funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs and comprehensive smoke-free laws has a huge effect on reducing tobacco-related diseases like cancer and addressing the financial burden this product poses on state economies and the nation.”