SECONDHAND SMOKE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR 50,000 DEATHS IN THE U.S. ANNUALLY

We know that secondhand smoke is a danger to your health. It has been estimated to result in at least 50,000 annual deaths in the United States, with almost 800 of those deaths in South Carolina. Hospitality workers such as musicians, servers, and bartenders are inhaling this smoke on the job. Servers are more likely to contract lung cancer due to exposure to secondhand smoke than any other career group. Secondhand smoke is a worker health issue. All people should have a right to breathe clean air while at work. Eliminating smoking in indoor workplaces is the only way to fully protect all people from exposure to secondhand smoke.

Being smoke-free positively affects business costs. Cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke cost $92 billion in productivity losses annually, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease and Prevention (CDC). Smokers on average miss 6.16 days of work due to sickness, including smoking-related acute and chronic conditions, compared to nonsmokers who miss on average of 3.86 days of work per year. The CDC puts a $3,391 price tag on each employee who smokes, with $1,760 in lost productivity and $1,623 in excess medical expenditures. The CDC reports that costs of healthcare and loss of productivity associated with the effects of secondhand smoke on nonsmokers can add up to $490 per smoker per year.

Billions of dollars are spent on costs stemming from working in smoke-filled environments. The price tag of South Carolina’s annual healthcare costs caused by smoking is $854 million. The healthcare costs covered by Medicaid is $307 million. Your tax burden from smoking-related government expenditures in $485 million.

Being smoke free makes sense both physically and financially. Local governments can enact ordinances that will reduce these costs to our wallets and to our health. (Dollar amount sources: Business Costs in Smoke-Filled Environments ANR August 2006 article)