Letter: Stop tinkering and just ban tobacco
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Your concerns about the oppressiveness of a state ban on tobacco promotion should be waved aside (leading article, 20 May). The addictive character of the product diminishes the smoker's ability to choose. The tobacco-related death toll of 300 per day would stimulate the most draconian action if it occurred as the result of any other activity - imagine if there was an air crash every day in Britain.
Frank Dobson's proposals do not go far enough. The tobacco industry's marketing budget should be visualised as a giant balloon of money - squash it down in one place and it will bulge somewhere else. To eradicate the industry's pernicious image-making, the Government will need to ban all forms of promotion, including arts and all other sponsorship, direct mail, loyalty schemes and so on. A partial ban could lead to a legislative "arms race", whereby tobacco companies devise ever more ingenious promotional ideas, and the Government responds with controlling legislation. It would be sensible to anticipate the likely course of events and introduce a pervasive ban on all tobacco promotion from the outset.
CLIVE BATES
London N16
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments