Letter: No discussion: smoking kills

No discussion: smoking kills

Sir: It is sad to see you running two articles by Glenda Cooper (24, 25 October) promoting the findings of a pro-nicotine study funded by (who else?) the tobacco industry.

Even as light-hearted articles these contribute to the industry's attempts to create discussion about possible benefits of a habit which kills 100,000 Britons every year and has to recruit an equal number of child smokers to replace them. The only reason that dementia might be less common in smokers is because smokers die, on average, 10 years earlier than non- smokers.

Dr ALAN McLEAN

Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire