Smoking survey shows good news on Owatonna

It seems difficult to fathom nowadays, but during a period between the 1920s and early 1950s, tobacco companies used to tout the health benefits of smoking cigarettes, sometimes even employing doctors, dentists, nurses and scientists to push a particular brand. The ad campaigns, which came about as the American public became increasingly concerned about the ill effects of smoking, employed misleading and sometimes downright deceptive techniques to convince people that smoking was not dangerous.

Now, of course, we know better.

Tobacco use increases incidents of heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, diseases of the respiratory tract, asthma, emphysema and, of course, cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as “the single most preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide.” The World Health Organization attributes that in the 20th century alone 100 million deaths worldwide were directly related to smoking. In the 21st century, that number could reach 1 billion, the WHO warns.

Then there are the economic costs related to smoking. In 2002, the CDC published a report that says that each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs more than $7 in medical care and lost productivity. Other studies have put that cost much higher, including one that estimates the cost at $41 per pack.

That’s why a recent report showing a decline in smoking rates in Minnesota comes as good news. According to the report — commissioned by ClearWay MinnesotaSM, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Department of Health — the adult smoking rate has declined to 17 percent, down about 5 percent from 1999. That’s about 164,000 less smokers. The bad news, of course, is that 17 percent of adults still smoke.

We applaud the efforts to cut tobacco use, knowing that it helps not only the smoker, but the society as a whole. And we encourage those who smoke to stop. The life you save will be your own.

Owatonna People’s Press editorials are the opinion of the Press editorial board. Other editorials, columns, letters and cartoons appearing on this page are the opinions of the authors and artists and not necessarily the People’s Press.

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