I refer to S Chang's letter and his impressive quoted figures from BBC Online . For a start, according to United Nation estimates (which are more credible than the BBC's), there are 39.4 million people with Aids.

Four million of seven million HIV positive Asians are in India while WHO estimates the figure for Pakistan at 80,000

As for diabetes, there were 30 million sufferers worldwide in 1985, hitting 370 million by the year 2030. By then, one million Malaysians will have diabetes (8.7 out of every 100 Malaysians aged above 35 years are diabetic now).

And then there is drug addiction. Figures for Malaysia show that from 33,359 in 1999 to 31,893 in 2002, the number of drug addicts rose to 36,996 last year. With an average increase of 4,000 per month, the number is projected to reach 443,000 by the year 2015 regardless of enforcement by authorities

As for blindness there are 50 million victims worldwide. Two-thirds of the victims are in Asia with about 60,000 Malaysians being visually impaired.

And let's not forget road accidents. There were 298,651 road accidents resulting in 6,282 deaths in the country last year with mainly motorcyclists and pillion riders being the victims.

I don't think I need to go on in response to Chang's arguments. By his logic, government hospitals should stop treating the above-mentioned victims too.

I don't deny smoking is 'bad for the health' but it is no where near to other factors that kill faster and cost the government more money.