CDC Foundation examines negative impact of tobacco use in the workplace

Atlanta – Smoking costs the U.S. economy more than $300 billion a year in direct medical care costs and lost productivity, including $5.6 billion in productivity losses related to secondhand smoke, according to the CDC Foundation.

To help combat the use of tobacco in the workplace, the foundation is offering resources in the latest edition of Business Pulse. Included are an infographic and a Q&A with Corinne Graffunder, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.

“Cigarette smoking remains the largest cause of preventable disease, disability and death in the United States,” Graffunder says in the Q&A. “About 20 percent of the nation’s adult workforce still smokes cigarettes, which not only threatens employees’ health and well-being, but can also result in decreased productivity, increased absenteeism and increased workplace maintenance costs.”