YP Letters: Don't ban tobacco '“ smoking is lifestyle choice

DON Webb asks for answers on why smoking isn’t finally banned outright (The Yorkshire Post, February 9). The first is that smoking is part of the chosen lifestyle of some people and so far, they have freedom of choice.

The Government allows the sale of “life-threatening tobacco products” for the same reasons it allows the sale of alcohol, sugar products and countless others which experts keep telling us are bad for our health.

Tobacco tax revenues are £12.3bn a year, but I have no idea if the alleged extra care costs he mentions of £150m for this region reflect a fair share of that.

There are no reliable statistics on what smokers cost the NHS. The standard mantra is always ‘smoking-related diseases’ which can cover a multitude of ailments irrespective of whether the sufferers were smokers or not and how do they distinguish between smoking and other causes like diesel fumes?

And what defines a smoker, 20 a day, 10 a week or two a year? You can bet a 90 year-old who had his last once-a-week fag before he died in hospital would be flagged up as having died from smoking if the fanatical anti-smoking lobby had anything to do with it.

There is no logic to smoking Mr Webb, it’s just what some people enjoy doing.