Study: Paying smokers to quit boosts success rate
(AP)
<p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212/ap_on_he_me/quit_smoking_bonuses"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090212/capt.0824935409e94c5eadde9d59f8f36fa8.quit_smoking_bonuses_nytr102.jpg?x=130y=93q=85sig=84tWVTR6.szdfzAxklyPeA--" align="left" height="93" width="130" alt="Dan Anzalone, a logistics specialist at a GE plant in Schenectady, N.Y. and former smoker of 35 years, relaxes at his home in Guilderland, N.Y., on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009. A federally funded University of Pennsylvania study, which began in 2005, finds paying cigarette smokers to quit triples the average success rate. (AP Photo/Tim Roske)" border="0" /></a>AP - Dangling enough dollars in front of smokers who want to quit helps many more succeed, an experiment with hundreds of General Electric Co. workers indicates. Among those paid up to $750 to quit and stay off cigarettes, 15 percent were still tobacco-free about a year later. That may not sound like much, but it's three times the success rate of a comparison group that got no such bonuses.</p><br clear="all"/>

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