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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 3:34 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Tobacco-free coalition in Hawaii gets $50,000 grant

Advertiser Staff

The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai'i said it received a $50,000 grant from the Hawaii Medical Association Foundation to help fund a program educating businesses about the benefits of providing tobacco-cessation benefits to employees.

The coalition will provide technical support to employers who want to adopt or promote stop-smoking benefits to employees and will be launched under the leadership of the Business Leader's Advisory Board.

"Research shows Hawai'i annually incurs $309 million in healthcare costs because of smoking," said Cliff Cisco, HMSA Foundation vice president, in a news release. The coalition said research also shows smokers have higher rates of absenteeism due to illness or family illness and that healthcare costs for smokers are as much as 40 percent higher compared to those for nonsmokers.