ANY person who has a care for health and wellbeing would support North-East chest physician Dr RJ Allcock’s plea that the ban on point of sale tobacco advertising should be maintained (HAS, July 26).
An experiment revealed a significant amount of tar on a filter from one cigarette. Carbon monoxide is more readily absorbed into the bloodstream than oxygen. The reduction in oxygen has a range of serious effects.
About 106,000 people die each year in the UK due to smoking.
Smoking-related deaths are mainly due to cancers, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and heart disease.
About half of all smokers die from smoking-related diseases. A smoker’s life expectancy is about ten years less than a non-smoker and many smoking-related deaths are not “quick”. If the patient develops COPD they face several years of distressing symptoms before they die.
Bill Morehead, Darlington.
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