Smoking socially costly
PA Auckland More than 8000 of New Zealand's 680.000 cigarette smokers die every year from diseases related to the habit, according to the Minister of Health (Mr Gair). , A reformed smoker. Mr Gair made the comment when listing the cost of society's bad habits in an address to the New Zealand College of Community Medicine.
He noted that, it cost $l2O a day to treat a cancer patient.
There were about 200.000 excessive drinkers in New Zealand, he said, and an estimated 60,000 chronic al- I coholics. I
“Alcohol abuse is thought to cost this country about j $5OO million a year in such ! ways as lost productivity, treatment costs, and the social cost of broken homes.” I
Last year 593 people died on New Zealand roads. “The direct cost to the hospital system from traffic accidents is estimated at over $2O million a year,” said Mr Gair.
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Press, 27 May 1981, Page 19
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151Smoking socially costly Press, 27 May 1981, Page 19
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