吸煙不僅傷害人的身體，也傷害人的錢包。科學早已證明，尼古丁對人類的身體健康有害，不過一項最新分析表明，吸煙也是一項非常燒錢的活動。

個人理財網站WalletHub于周三發表的一篇分析文章顯示，康涅狄格州是美國人均吸煙成本最高的州，該州煙民每年的人均吸煙成本高達5.6萬美元。在他們的一生之中，康州煙民在這項癖好上的支出將超過280萬美元。

WalletHub的文章研究了美國煙民的年均吸煙成本和終身吸煙成本，并將結果按州排列，相關成本中包括了煙草價格、稅收成本等以及吸煙引發的相關疾病導致的醫療支出和收入損失等變量。

根據美國疾病控制與預防中心（CDC）統計，吸煙每年給美國社會帶來的損失達3000億美元以上。

WalletHub的研究還引用了與吸煙有關的死亡數據。根據來自美國外科醫生總會（U.S. Surgeon General）的數據，自1964年以來，與吸煙有關的疾病已經奪去了2000多萬美國人的生命，其中有250萬人是死于二手煙影響的非吸煙者。吸煙是導致肺癌的主要元兇，吸煙還會導致慢性支氣管炎和肺氣腫等健康問題。

盡管目前尚無定論，但目前的研究傾向于認為電子煙也是對人體有害的。雖然Juul等知名電子煙生產商聲稱電子煙比傳統煙草更安全，但一些研究表明，人體在吸食電子煙后，體內也會產生一些有毒化學物質，與普通吸煙者并無本質區別，即使他們所使用的電子煙并不含有尼古丁。為了保持電子煙的香味，很多廠商都在電子煙煙油中添加了丙二醇和甘油等化學物質，由此產生的豐富口味也是令很多煙民選擇電子煙的一個重要原因。由于電子煙在青少年中非常流行，美國食品與藥品管理局（FDA）正在考慮禁止在線銷售電子煙。

不過美國在煙草消費方面也是有好消息的。2018年，美國成年人的吸煙率跌至歷史新低。（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

Smoking kills people, but the habit gets their wallets first. While research has long proven a nicotine addiction causes harm to one’s health, new analysis proves it causes serious damage to financial health too.

Smokers in Connecticut, the state that ranks highest in terms of the financial cost of cigarette smoking, are spending nearly $56,000 annually on their habit, according to new analysis published Wednesday by personal finance website WalletHub. Over their lifetimes, smokers in Connecticut are spending more than $2.8 million.

WalletHub’s analysis looks at the cost of smoking over both a year and a lifetime of tobacco use. The totals are broken down by state, which accounts for variables such as tobacco prices and taxes, as well as healthcare costs and income loss due to related health issues.

Looking at the United States as a whole, smoking costs the country over $300 billion annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The WalletHub study also points to the mortality figures associated with smoking. The U.S. Surgeon General reports that since 1964, smoking-related illnesses have claimed the lives of more than 20 million Americans, and 2.5 million of those were non-smokers who suffered the effects of secondhand smoke. Smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer, and smoking also causes health issues such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

This may also be true for e-cigarettes, though the jury is still out. While e-cig producers such as Juul say vaping is safer than traditional smoking, some studies have shown that people who smoke e-cigs have the same toxic chemicals in their bodies as regular cigarette smokers, even when the e-cigs don’t contain nicotine. Chemicals such aspropylene glycol and glycerin are used in e-cigs to preserve the flavor, the very thing that seems to motivate people to opt for vaping over cigarette smoking. Vaping has become so popular with teens, the FDA is considering a ban on online e-cigarette sales.

There is at least some good news on the tobacco front, though. Smoking among adults in the U.S. fell to an all-time low in 2018.