PRESS RELEASE - Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Canadian Cancer Society releases report

The true costs of tobacco in Nova Scotia

HALIFAX, NS – Every year, smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke kills an estimated 1,738 Nova Scotians – one in every five Nova Scotia deaths. A report released today by the Canadian Cancer Society indicates tobacco use costs Nova Scotians $171.3 million in direct health care costs and another $526 million in indirect costs.

The Cost of Tobacco Use in Nova Scotia, commissioned by Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Cancer Society and authored by Dr. Ron Colman and Janet Rhymes of GPI Atlantic, includes the latest research in determining the real costs of tobacco use to Nova Scotians.

"Most of the time, we look at the impact of tobacco in terms of people, the lives lost and negatively affected by smoking and second-hand smoke," says Maureen Summers, executive director for the Canadian Cancer Society in Nova Scotia. "This report puts hard numbers to the impact of tobacco on our society as a whole."

Real costs include premature mortality and disability, direct hospital, physician and drug expenditures on smoking-attributable illnesses as well as indirect costs such as productivity losses to the economy. For example, last year, employees who smoke cost Nova Scotia employers $268 million through absenteeism, on-the-job productivity loss, insurance premiums and maintaining designated smoking facilities.

Tobacco use causes approximately 30 per cent of all cancer cases, including the vast majority of lung cancer cases.

"The good news is that tobacco use has declined significantly in Nova Scotia since 1999," says Summers.

The overall rates of smoking in Nova Scotia have fallen from 29 per cent in 1999 to 22 per cent in 2006, which represents a 24 per cent decline.

Rates of tobacco use among young adults have also fallen from 37 per to 33 per cent, respectively. Tobacco use among teens age 15 to 19 have also declined from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.

"Despite the great progress we've seen in the reduction of smoking rates," says Summers, "there remains a significant cost burden to the Nova Scotia economy."

Interventions such as tobacco taxes, public education campaigns, cessation programs, and youth education strategies have helped to reduce the burden of tobacco use in Nova Scotia.

The Canadian Cancer Society supports the increase in per capita spending from $2 per capita to $5 per capita, a key recommendation of the report. This, based on the high costs of tobacco use and upon evidence from other jurisdictions on the success of tobacco reduction interventions.

"We believe more can be done to further reduce tobacco use rates and their resulting costs to Nova Scotia," says Summers. "An investment in Nova Scotia's Tobacco Control Strategy is an investment in the health of Nova Scotians."

Investing in tobacco reduction would mean great benefits to Nova Scotians: lives saved, better long-term health outcomes and cost savings. Using 2006 data, reducing Nova Scotia's smoking rate a further 36 per cent would save Nova Scotians approximately $109 per capita, a total of $101.8 million per year.

Says Summers, "This report provides valuable information that will help shape the policy recommendations we make to the government of Nova Scotia."

The Canadian Cancer Society is a national community-based organization whose mission is to eradicate cancer and improve the quality of life of people living with cancer. When you want to know more about cancer, visit our website at www.cancer.ca or call our toll-free, bilingual Cancer Information Service at 1 888 939-3333.

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For more information, or to arrange an interview or request a copy of the report, please contact:

For data questions, please contact:
Lesley Mulcahy
Communications Coordinator
Canadian Cancer Society - Nova Scotia Division
902-423-6183
Toll-free. 1-800-639-0222
lesley.mulcahy@ns.cancer.ca

Dr. Ronald Colman
Executive Director, GPI Atlantic
902-823-1944 (work)
902-489-7007 (cell)
colman@gpiatlantic.org