Its not a figure that has been quoted much when talking about the determination of the pharmaceutical industrys attempts to get electronic cigarettes banned all over the planet. The usual figure that is bandied around is the $4 billion dollar industry in cessation devices. (Patches and Gums etc).
Now that is not to say that a $4 billion dollar industry is not one that most market leaders would not want to defend by whatever means necessary but it pales into insignificance against $100 billion dollars a year revenue.
$100 Billion Dollar A Year?
First question I expect is where did you get that figure from of $100 billion a year?
Well I did a quick search for the health industry cost of smoking related illness and came up quickly with the figures for the US, Canada and the UK ( see bottom of article for relevant sources) and the estimated cost for these three countries amounts to a little over the $100 billion dollars a year figure.
Now not all that amount will be spent on pharmaceuticals, drugs, supplies etc but im guessing that a good proportion of it will be, making this a little more important to Big pharma than the gum and patch industry.
The problem with electronic cigarettes is that they work. A recent clinical trial showed them to 54% effective for people who had no inclination to quit smoking. Thats 10x the effectiveness of the patches and gum.
But the saddest fact is that pharmecutical companies dont want people to quit smoking. They want them to smoke and get ill. Why? So that they can sell the billions of dollars worth of drugs to manage their illness. Healthy people dont need drugs and therefore are no longer able to be a drug company customer. And without customers pharmaceutical companies do not make money. It’s as simple as that.
So whilst politicians are being lied to or paid off in the name of safety and regualtion be aware.
In my opinion, Electronic cigarettes are the greatest leap forward in public health since innoculation. At no other time has a simple device mechanism been able to achieve such a mass boost to the health of potentially over 100 million people (in the countries quoted).
In terms of health cost savings to the UK National health service, it could be the difference between sink or swim in terms of the current spiralling cost of the NHS. And that is not taking into account for the increase in productivity of a healthier workforce.
In the US it would make a big dent in the crippling cost of medicare not to mention health insurance premiums which make an even bigger dent to small companies trying their best to provide employment and benefits to ordinary folk.
So if you smoke e-cigs, or tobacco and dont want corporate greed to continue to destroy our health in the name of safety (for safety read profit), its time to stand up and be counted. This is one fight that we cannot afford to let the pharmasoles win!
Author: Neil Ebsworth
Sources:
www.albertahealthservices.ca/
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/06/14/US-smoking-related-diseases-cost-96B/UPI-56571339724113/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8086142.stm
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