Letter: Tobacco hysteria

Sir: Does Professor Terence Morris (letter, 2 March) expect to be taken seriously when he complains of having to pass through a railway smoking carriage? Anti-smoking has become a kind of hysteria in this country. When one sees the effects of air, water and earth pollution caused by far more dangerous substances than tobacco smoke, one cannot help wondering whether smokers are attacked just because they are a weak and easily available target when compared to chemicals manufacturers, power station managers, water companies and the car industry.

If the stonework of ancient churches is crumbling, if waterways are poisoned and vegetation dead in many places, what are the effects of such pollution on the human frame?

The zeal that is expended on bullying smokers could be better directed at more powerful and more dangerous interests.

Yours sincerely,

ANN DUMMETT

Oxford