Letter

No more hot air

On ‘No Smoking Day’ (10 March), Macmillan Cancer Relief encouraged smokers not to smoke in public places. We are also urging the government to ban smoking in enclosed public places, such as bars and restaurants, since voluntary ventilation systems are not working.

Our primary concern is to care for people with cancer, whatever the cause. But we know that around a third of the 150,000 cancer deaths in Britain each year are caused by smoking.

Simply, many of the deaths from cancer can be prevented by not smoking. This is easier said than done and so we recognise that people who would like to give up smoking need all the help available. At the very least, reducing passive smoking will go some way to lowering cancer deaths