February 8, 2001 12:22: I FEEL the following points need answering from the letters published on Thursday, January 25:

1) The number of adults who smoke: In 1998, the figure was 33 per cent a rise, as it was 31 per cent in 1995, so Mr G Brown take note.

2) Tobacco revenue: For the tax year 1998, the Treasury estimate was £8.9 billion to which you have to add VAT, giving a total of £10.45 bn. Add to this figure corporation tax for the tobacco companies and the tax and NI of their workers, estimated at £3 bn, and you get a grand Total £13.45 bn.

The NHS budget was £40 bn smoking related problems did not cost 34% of the health budget.

If all the smokers stopped next week, the basic rate tax would have to rise by 6p. This shows that the most addicted smoker is the Government. So unless the anti-smoking lobby are happy to pay the extra tax, don't crib.

It should also be noted that drink-related problems cost the NHS three times more than smoking-related problems.

3) Increasing tobacco taxes: Every year that the Government has increased tobacco taxes, revenues have fallen due to smuggling. Their latest idea is to spend £209 million on more customs officers. At the same time the 'on the street price' of heroin is now at its lowest level. So do you want your children to smoke or do heroin? The smuggling problem, and the move by organized crime into this area, has become so bad that Canada and Sweden have reduced tobacco taxes !

4) Passive smoking: The World Health Organisation published a ten-year study that there was no link between passive smoking and cancer. They also found that childhood exposure to cigarette smoke reduced the risk of lung cancer by 22%. Of course there was an attempt at not publishing these results and the anti-smoking lobby claimed they were wrong. Politically correct science ?

5) Smoking is the biggest health risk: Can any of your readers guess which country consumes the highest quantity of cigarettes per head of the population? Answer Japan. And where do men and women live longest? Japan! Try to get an doctor to explain this to you.

It should also be noted that Japanese Americans suffer similar rates of lung cancer and heart disease as the rest of America. What is the only major difference? Diet. Those living in Japan eat very little processed food.

6) The only totally non-smoking pub has gone out of business.

7) And finally: Who enacted the strictest anti-smoking laws? Answer Adolph Hitler. So I think I side with Winston Churchill, who said: "It's every Englishman's God-given right to enjoy smoking."

D. Fagan

Southview, High Wycombe