In BBC Online recently, there was an article entitled 'Smoking killing millions globally'. Here's a summary of the points made:

Smoking killed almost five million people around the world in 2000. Over half the deaths were in smokers aged 30 to 69.

Men were over three times as likely as women to die an early death as a direct result of smoking.

The leading cause of smoking related deaths was cardiovascular disease, which killed over one million people in the developed world and 670,000 in the developing one.

Lung cancer, the next biggest smoking-related killer in the developed world, sent over 500,000 people to an early grave.

Chronic obstructive airways disease (COPD), a collective term for inflammatory lung disease, such as bronchitis, killed more people in the developing world, accounting for 650,000 deaths.

In Eastern Europe and North America, smoking caused almost 1 in 4 deaths among people aged between 30 and 69.

In the same article, Simon Clark, of the smokers' rights group Forest, said: 'No one disputes the health risks of long-term heavy smoking but before politicians and researchers use these figures to demonise all smokers, it is important to consider other factors such as the effects of diet, including malnutrition, and lack of proper exercise.

'If we believe that adults should accept a large degree of responsibility for their own health, further government intervention to curb and reduce smoking would be wholly inappropriate.'

Hmm ...

I would just like to comment as a non-smoker and a layperson. It's pretty obvious that the above figures will do nothing to stop people from smoking and that government intervention is necessary.

I have a drastic suggestion - if a patient is in hospital needing treatment for what is clearly a smoking-related illness, then the hospital authorities should deny them treatment.

Treating smokers with public healthcare is waste of taxpayers' money which could be better spent on other more deserving cases. If this can't be implemented, then smokers should at least be charged twice the amount of normal fees when seeking treatment at public healthcare facilities.

That said (with regards to government intervention), I recall that when the proposed hike in cigarette prices was discussed in Parliament, I believe some MPs (in Parliament no less) had the gall to argue that if the prices went up, they wouldn't be able to 'belanja' their constituents 'rokok' and this would prevent them from carrying out their duties effectively!

Though smoking is an individual choice, it's incredibly selfish of parent(s) to impose their habit on their family members, possibly causing them harm in terms of second-hand smoke not to mention those already suffering respiratory problems (like asthma).