I WAS extremely concerned to see that the Tory party is claiming, in an article on its website, that "the simple fact is that there is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever that passive smoking has ever killed anyone".
It is difficult to imagine a more irresponsible claim being made by any politician, particularly given the effects of passive smoking on children.
The scientific evidence is well established; even the United States Surgeon General, Vice-Admiral Richard H. Carmona, a combat-decorated Vietnam veteran appointed by President Bush - hardly a politically-correct liberal - says that passive smoking kills three thousand people in the US every year.
For the Tories to promote the view that passive smoking never killed anyone is extremely worrying and most reprehensible.
Every effort should be made to persuade Michael Howard to withdraw this article and to do so publicly. Until then it begs the question: has past funding from tobacco companies influenced the Tory party health policy?
BARONESS DELYTH MORGAN
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