You probably know that your article in the Weekend Sun Fri 27 April would get a few comments.
Yes, I am a smoker.
For a start I never smoke around non-smokers - whether at home, at work, or out in the community.
And I have worked all my life and pay taxes which go towards hospital treatment for myself or anyone else.
I could write a page about the fat people who disgust me with their over-eating and the cost to the health system they cause.
And where's your article about banning doughnuts and cakes or putting the prices of fatty foods (and greasy takeaways) up to $100. Oh no, you couldn't do that because too many non-smokers would be offended that someone's telling them what they can and can't eat!
And what about putting the price of a can or bottle of alcohol up to $100?
That would never happen cause too many non-smokers probably love their alcohol, and so do politicians, so that would never become law.
I'm just peeved off, cause I don't drink like most of society, and yet alcohol is still readily publicised and promoted - even on sports fields, and it causes much more devastation and death than smoking.
You quoted figures on how many smokers die each year. (BTW I thought that would be pleasing for you since that's a lot less smokers in the world). How are those figures collected?
I hate seeing statistics quoted in articles without any mention of where and how they were obtained.
Do you think everyone will just believe you when you quote figures? That's what politicians do.
When deaths are recorded - whether car accident, falling off a cliff or whatever, are statistics about them are recorded ie. did they smoke, and subsequently recorded as another smoker dying.
When my father died at age 90, I had to fill out a form and it asked whether he smoked and whether that contributed to his death.
What a joke! He was 90, and according to his doctor, fitter and healthier than most people half his age. (My dad was perfectly healthy and active but died from a sudden stroke - not uncommon after 90 years of life).
Yes he did smoke, and had done so since age 14, but had never been in hospital all his life. My father's death would be recorded as ‘another smoker dies'.
I am venting, I know, but hope you at least read my thoughts.

Marianne Slade.

Editor's note:

Believe what you want. We don't make this up: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand, accounting for 4300 to 4600 deaths per year.
[according to Peto, R., Lopez, A., et al. (2000). Mortality from Smoking in Developed Countries 1950 – 2000: Indirect estimates from national vital statistics. New York: Oxford University Press.]
Other studies put the figure closer to 5000 per year in New Zealand.
Tobacco use is the single biggest preventable cause of death in the world as well as New Zealand.

Donuts did not feature in the report, but I wouldn't recommend smoking them, either.

- Brian.