HALIFAX - A new report commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society says smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke is killing more than 1,700 Nova Scotians every year.
The study, done by GPI Atlantic, also estimates tobacco use in the province costs Nova Scotians $171.3 million in direct health care expenditures and another $526 million indirectly.
Real costs include premature mortality and disability, direct hospital, physician and drug expenditures on smoking-attributable illnesses as well as indirect costs such as productivity losses to the economy.
Overall rates of smoking in Nova Scotia have fallen from 29 per cent in 1999 to 22 per cent in 2006, which represents a 24 per cent decline.
The Canadian Cancer Society says that's a good trend but more needs to be done.
It suggests an increase in intervention program spending to $5 from $2 per capita.
