Report Says Smoking Causes 8,000 Deaths a Year in Wisconsin 

More than 8,000 people die in Wisconsin each year from smoking tobacco. A report also says nearly one of every six deaths in the state is due to smoking.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death for smokers. Cigarette smoking is blamed for 80 percent of all deaths from lung cancer.

Smoking costs state $2.16 billion a year

The report also says the cost of health care in the state for people who smoke is $2.16 billion a year. Illness and early deaths also cause the loss in productivity of another $1.6 billion a year in Wisconsin. (“Productivity” means the ability to make goods or services for the economy.)   

In 2003, the cost of health care from cigarette smoking was about $390 for each person in the state, according to the report.   

“The 2006 Burden of Tobacco” report was written by the state Division of Public Health, the American Cancer Society and the University of Wisconsin Tobacco Surveillance and Evaluation Program. It was released February 26. 

Over 1 million people smoke in Wisconsin

More than one million people in Wisconsin still smoke tobacco. That is about 22 percent of all the people in the state. A little more than one of five people in the State uses tobacco. 

Smokers die at the rate of 7,215 a year in Wisconsin. Smoking causes 22 deaths a day.

People who do not smoke also die from smoking, the report said. Second-hand smoke causes another 853 deaths a year. People who do not smoke breathe in second-hand smoke.  

Fires caused by burning cigarettes kill 12 people a year in the state. Nine children die from tobacco smoke, the report said. The children’s deaths were blamed on the sudden infant death syndrome, also known as SIDS. 

The report said that Wisconsin pays a high price in dollars and human lives because of smoking.  Most Wisconsin residents are, or will be, affected by cigarette smoking, it also said.

The report said that Wisconsin must create programs to get people to stop smoking.

One person who would like to see more people give up smoking is Russ Hinz. He is head of the American Cancer Society’s office for Wisconsin.

Supports ban on smoking in public places

Hinz supports an effort by some city officials to ban smoking in public places in Milwaukee. New York City, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago have bans on smoking, Hinz said. Milwaukee should be next, he wrote in an opinion piece in the March 2 Milwaukee Journal.

“Tobacco use and …. second-hand smoke is a common risk factor for the major public health challenges facing the city today,” Hinz wrote.

Hinz said that smoking leads to infant deaths and low birth-weight babies, sudden infant death syndrome, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. He added that these are “…urgent issues that call out for immediate action.”