Minister: Smokers' treatment costs one tenth of taxes

Minister: Smokers' treatment costs one tenth of taxes | Prague Monitor:

An analysis the Czech Health Ministry has made shows that Czech smokers pay in consumer taxes and VAT dozens of billions of crowns more than what their treatment costs, the Czech Television (CT) public broadcaster Sunday quoted Health Minister Leos Heger (TOP 09) as saying.

Heger said public finances would lose minimally 50 billion crowns without smokers.

He said recently he would like a part of the collected tax to go to his sector.

"About six billion crowns is spent on the treatment of smokers' diseases in the system of public health insurance annually while the tax on tobacco products brings in the state budget about 60 billion," Heger said.

CT said that according to the analysis, the state collects 44 billion crowns in consumer tax on tobacco annually and another 16 billion crowns are paid by smokers in VAT.

The treatment of cancer, heart attack and other tobacco-related diseases, however, costs the insurance companies only six billion, CT said referring to the analysis.

Right,so let's wipe out smoking and take the economy down at the same time.

Brilliant!

The Tyee – Nicotine Patches a Waste of Public Money: Harvard Report

The Tyee – Nicotine Patches a Waste of Public Money: Harvard Report:

The main study to support the decision was from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, Jabs said. That study, Pharmacologic-based Strategies for Smoking Cessation, reviewed some 500 studies and reports related to smoking and quitting, he said.

That 548-page report did find that NRTs and the pharmaceuticals all helped people quit smoking, The Tyee reported in June 2011.

However, it also cast doubt on whether it was wise to spend public money on them, finding it was actually cheaper to treat smoking-related illnesses in the few who develop them compared to widely providing smoking cessation products. The health benefits were relatively small considering the expense, they found.

This whole charade is sickening.

University Of California Announces Blanket Smoking Ban

University Of California Announces Blanket Smoking Ban:

Whilst no one can argue that it is a bad idea to encourage smoking in places where young people are finding their feet and developing habits that might last them a lifetime, a problem that is due to hit home in another decade or so, is when the cancer rates fail to drop and the spotlight turns to the myriad of toxic chemicals, insecticides, air-born contaminants, plastics, glues, paints and even cosmetic and food additives that are known to be highly carcinogenic. There should be plenty of interesting lawsuits - the question is whether these companies can survive, once public enemy number one is out of the picture.

The usual propaganda,but the conclusion at the end of the article isn't one I usually see.

When I see something like this I have to wonder if these people know cancer rates are affected by things that aren't smoking how come no one ever says anything about them?