Oh man, the games these people play!
The goal of the U.S. health care system is ''prolonging disability-free life,'' states the 2004 Surgeon General's report on the health consequences of smoking. ''Thus any negative economic impacts from gains in longevity with smoking reduction should not be emphasized in public health decisions.''
So in other words, we'll pump the position that a smoker is a nasty person because he/she costs society $<insert excessive dollar value here> more than a good non-smoker, but we refuse to talk about just how much a good non-smoker actually costs society because we don't want to acknowledge the fact that non-smokers actually cost society more.
Wouldn't want to acknowledge anything that doesn't support the pet theories that help us to raise taxes on the backs of our target group.
Dr. Terry Pechacek, the CDC associate director for science in the office on smoking and health, said that data seeking to quantify economic benefits of smoking couldn't capture all the benefits associated with longevity, like a grandparent's contribution to a family. Because of such uncertainties the CDC won't put a price tag on savings from smoking.
Sure, they'll put a price tag on the costs of smoking, but won't tolerate discussion of the price tag for not smoking.
''The natural train of logic that follows from that is that then anybody that's admitted around age 65 or older that's showing any signs of sickness should be denied treatment,'' Pechacek said. ''That's the cheapest thing to do.''
Huh? Now how does this Pechacek figure that the "natural train of logic that follows" from acknowledging smokers aren't the financial burden they're accused of being, is we should somehow deny medical services to our sick elderly?
Either his quote was plugged in out of context, he was misquoted entirely, or someone should be double-checking just who wrote his exams in university to earn that degree!
He probably meant to say "The natural train of logic that follows is that we should stop pretending smokers are any more of a financial burden on society than non-smokers".
