Companies Nationwide Begin to Offer Quit Smoking Treatments to Their Employees; Corporations Discover Paying For Their Employees' Smoking Cessation Treatments Using Freedom Laser Therapy Makes Good Business Sense.

LOS ANGELES -- Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Smoking is responsible for one in every five American deaths. Tobacco causes more deaths than AIDS, alcohol abuse, automobile accidents, illegal drugs, fires, homicide and suicide combined. Companies around the United States are becoming aware of how negatively smoking employees effect their company's bottom line.

The growing trend to become more health conscious has hit corporate America. The cost of an employee who smokes is significant to an employer. Some anti-smoking advocacy organizations, such as Action on Smoking and Health, known as ASH, say that smokers' medical costs are $3,000 a year higher than nonsmokers' and that lost productivity -- due to illness and smoking breaks during the day -- raises the added cost of employing smokers to about $5,000 a year per smoker.

Employers endure increased health care costs associated from their employees' smoking addictions. Indirect costs can mount for employers due to lost productivity, absenteeism, new employee recruitment and retraining of new staff. Many corporations across the United States are now implementing no smoking policies in efforts to create a healthier, more productive and cost effective work environment.

A nicotine addiction clinic headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., offers a low-level laser treatment to help relieve the physical discomforts of quitting smoking. Freedom Laser Therapy's treatment stimulates energy points on the hands, face and ears by using a painless low-level laser to create a calming effect throughout the mind and body. Freedom's treatment also focuses on the psychological aspects of quitting smoking, provides a 30-day vitamin detoxification regimen and a reminder to stay quit support kit.

Craig Slogan, Vice President of CRS Service, Inc., a manufacturer of hydraulic equipment, sent his employees to Freedom Laser Therapy of Royal Oak, Mich. Slogan says, "There is nothing positive about this habit, and if I can help the people that I work with to overcome this addictive negative behavior, I'll do whatever I can to help them." Slogan also states, "I believe in positive reinforcement and strongly supporting my dedicated team of employees."

Companies benefit in many ways by assisting their employees in ending their nicotine addictions. Corporations will experience a significant decrease in the costs of their health and life insurance policies for their smoking employees. Employers spend almost double on their health care benefits for smoking employees due to the increased risks for disease and illness. In addition, smokers can cause a strained relationship between smoking and non-smoking staff, due to their constant work breaks and inefficient use of company time. Overall, a smoke free work environment creates better working conditions for both the employer and staff.

Freedom Laser Therapy is witnessing a nationwide movement of corporations assisting their employees to quit smoking using laser therapy. Craig Nabat, President of Freedom Laser Therapy, says, "Regardless of the size of the company, implementing a smoking cessation program and providing support for your employees makes good business sense."