Prevention Matters

General Electric's move to establish wellness clinics for its 300,000 employees was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while news that tobacco manufacturers has been redesigning cigarettes to make them even more deadly was named the "Worst Prevention Idea of the Week."

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.


BEST

GE Looks to Prevention to Hold Down Employee Health Costs

General Electric announced that it is aiming to hold growth of health-care spending for its 300,000 employees below the rate of inflation by focusing more on prevention. GE said it is converting 175 company-run health centers into "wellness clinics."


WORST

Cigarette Design Changes Increase Risk of Lung Cancer

Tobacco manufacturers have changed cigarette design to the point that cigarettes smoked today in the United States may double the risk of cancer compared to those smoked 40 years ago. That’s the conclusion of a new study presented at a scientific conference in Dublin, Ireland. The study concludes: "These data suggest that up to one half of current lung cancer occurrence may be attributable to changes in cigarette design and correspondingly that current lung cancer rates might be reduced by up to 50% through regulatory control of cigarette design and composition."