Open letter to Andrew McNair

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your recent comments on this blog.

You seem to fall into the 'quit or die' camp which makes you just as extreme and "dimwitted" (to use your terminology) as those who deny there are any health risks associated with smoking.

What some people question is the degree of risk associated with smoking, and that's a perfectly legitimate query given the number of smokers who live to a ripe old age without any apparent health problems.

The founder of Forest, Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, a lifelong pipe smoker, lived until he was 92. Our chairman for 20 years, Lord Harris of High Cross, another pipe smoker, died when he was well into his eighties. He was physically and mentally active to the very end.

Nor are they isolated examples. There are millions of smokers, including cigarette smokers, who have lived just as long.

There must be factors other than luck at work and many of us would like to know what they are rather than be told "Quit – or don't start – smoking unless you want to die ten years prematurely of a horrible illness".

While there may not be any obvious physical benefits from smoking, a lot of smokers swear they benefit in other ways. For some people smoking is a pleasure as well as a habit and who are you to deny someone pleasure if it doesn't harm anyone else?

David Hockney, a good friend of Forest, has spoken about his peers in New York giving up smoking and ending up on Prozac, and he has questioned which is better. Ultimately it's up to the individual – not you, me or the state.

Hockney continues to smoke because he believes it is better for his mental health than a prescription drug. That's his choice. Is he a "dimwit" too?

Re smoking during pregnancy, I think it's sensible to err on the side of caution and not smoke whilst pregnant, but I don't think it's my job - or anyone else's - to lecture someone on the subject.

Curiously the baby boom generation, many of whom were born to mothers who smoked, is living longer than at any period in history. How has that happened?

I'm not for one moment suggesting there's a correlation between the two but if we believe the scaremongers it's hard to understand how a generation of children, millions of whom were exposed every day to tobacco smoke at home or in the car, have lived as long as they have. If you could explain that I'd be very grateful.

Mothers-to-be are almost certainly exposed to all manner of chemicals and carcinogens during pregnancy, including carbon monoxide from road traffic. The dose is the poison, so your firefighter analogy is pretty lame.

Finally, I don't think many people reading this blog object to reasonable regulations or restrictions concerning the manufacture, purchase and consumption of tobacco.

What is "vile" is the extent of those regulations – some of which have nothing to do with health – and the systematic "denormalisation" of a product whose consumers pay an exorbitant amount of tax to purchase legally.

I'm happy you're happy you gave up smoking. Why can't you leave it at that? Why visit a blog like this merely to hector and admonish people who have chosen to live their lives differently to you?

To me that's a form of bullying. There must be more productive things you can do, like minding your own business.

I don't like to say it, Andrew, but, please, get a life and leave others to live theirs.

Kind regards,

Simon

Forest
Sheraton House
Castle Park
Cambridge CB3 0AX