Smoke screen

The WHO "No Tobacco Day" has provoked me into writing of my concerns about the attitude of some people here towards smoking. It is apparent that some smokers do not realize the possible severity and extent of damage to their health which smoking can cause. Questions such as "you have enough money to smoke so why don't you?" are occasionally thrown at my husband.

I was engaged in conversation with an Indonesian lady who admitted that she did not smoke in public, because of the negative "bad girl" image it portrayed, but that she smoked in private. She laughed when I suggested that there is a reason why she should not smoke at all -- her health. Her response implied that she did not fully comprehend the government health warnings and that she was unwittingly laughing in the face of death.

A person should be free to choose whether or not she smokes, but an informed decision cannot be made unless a person is fully aware of the facts. Advertisements portraying virile young men with a cigarette in hand only serve to exacerbate the problem.

ANNE-MARIE ELIZABETH TAPP

Cilegon, West Java