[sammyg2]

This has been around and well known for many, many years. I did a term paper on it in college (got an A) and most of the references were directly from studies from the surgeon general's office.

If someone lives to be 85 they will eventually chalk up a lot of medical bills, and will collect much more in social security etc. If that same person died at 65, it would save the government and everyone else a great deal of money.

Smoking (and obesity) do not kill people. They will die if they smoke or not, are skinny or fat. all smoking does is make the inevitable happen sooner.

One of my pet peeves is when someone is credited with "saving a life".
Baloney. All they did was postpone a death.