Madam, - Ironically, I think the Irish Vintners Association is to be congratulated for highlighting for the Irish people the current medical knowledge that the inhalation of other people's cigarettes can do significant harm.
While the great debate has focused on smoking at work, the most important battle against smoking will be in the home, and particularly among the young.
At the moment we are losing this battle among teenagers, especially young girls, and if people become more aware that smoking among friends and with families can injure those who are close to them I feel that we will have taken one more significant step in the reduction of smoking among young people.
Research has shown that about 90 per cent of smokers have smoked before the age of 18, so if we can keep young children away from cigarettes until that age we will have won a large part of the battle.
Hence smoking in the home environment is what must be tackled and I think the campaign by the Irish Vintners has helped to raise people's awareness that there is no such thing as passive smoking as everyone is actively inhaling an agent that is damaging to their bodies and particularly to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
Let us hope that the Californian experience, in which the incidence of smoking in the general population continued to fall after the introduction of similar measures, will be mirrored in this country. - Yours, etc.,
Dr J. BERNARD WALSH,
Consultant Physician,
Ardlui Park,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
