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Tobacco Kills,... but is is quick enough?

chaoslodge
NEW YORK - Tobacco use killed 100 million people worldwide in the 20th century and could kill one billion people in the 21st unless governments act now to dramatically reduce it, the World Health Organization said in a report Thursday.

see: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080207/ap_on_he_me/tobacco_epidemic_3


I am not sure this is quick enough or anywhere near the totals I would hope for. Couldn't we use GM tobacco to make it more efficient? It is the best form of natural selection there is.
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  • Don McManus
    Fat people, smokers cheaper to treat than long-living healthy people, study says


    Study: Obesity surgery to reduce stomach size can cure diabetes in many overweight patients
    Jump to full article: AP, 2008-02-04
    Author: MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer

    Intro:
    Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, researchers reported Monday. It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars.

    "It was a small surprise," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the study. "But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more."

    In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal, Dutch researchers found that the health costs of thin and healthy people in adulthood are more expensive than those of either fat people or smokers. . . .

    Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on.

    The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000.

    The results counter the common perception that preventing obesity will save health systems worldwide millions of dollars.

    "This throws a bucket of cold water onto the idea that obesity is going to cost trillions of dollars," said Patrick Basham, a professor of health politics at Johns Hopkins University who was unconnected to the study. He said that government projections about obesity costs are frequently based on guesswork, political agendas, and changing science. . . .

    "Lung cancer is a cheap disease to treat because people don't survive very long," van Baal said. "But if they are old enough to get Alzheimer's one day, they may survive longer and cost more."

    The study, paid for by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, did not take into account other potential costs of obesity and smoking, such as lost economic productivity or social costs.

    I heard this on the radio yesterday. In order to afford Nationalized Health Care, we may need to promote a Smoking Section at McDonals.
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