Supervisor Suggests Mandatory Stop-Smoking Classes for County Employees
Gerry Hyland ponders whether county employees who smoke can be made to take classes to stop smoking, according to news report.
Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland is suggesting that the county make it mandatory that employees who smoke take classes to stop smoking, and on Saturday, a county spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the county's attorneys are looking into the idea. Hyland made the suggestion at a recent county Board of Supervisors meeting, the Washington Post reported. Hyland's father, who was a smoker, died at age 50 of lung cancer, the AP report said. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has estimated that the cost of smoking (estimated cost of smoking-related medical expenses and loss of productivity) exceeds $167 billion annually. A Harvard Business Review blog recently pushed the idea that cigarettes should cost $25 …
Locally Involved
2:32 pm on Monday, November 26, 2012
Based upon the logic in the article, perhaps we should force county employees to exercise since obesity is the #2 cause of death in America. Seems to me, medical expense would be more greatly reduced if we reduced our weight. 1. Obesity is the #2 cause of preventable death in the United States 2. 60 million Americans, 20 years and older are obese 3. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of… more ›