Smoking still kills - A lot done, more to do

IT’S almost five years since then Health Minister Micheál Martin introduced revolutionary bans on smoking in public places and workplaces.

However, yesterday’s warning from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that we must do more to curtail tobacco consumption suggests we have been resting on our laurels. Statistics confirm this. Almost three out of 10 of us still smoke, 6,000 die from smoking-related illnesses each year.

We rely on government to do a lot of the things we should do for ourselves, and changing our attitudes towards smoking is an area where nothing is as effective as personal responsibility.

Though the evidence is irrefutable, 6,000 lives are still lost in this country because of smoking each year. Maybe the time has come to consider denying health services to anyone under a certain age who persists in smoking.