Madam, - I can't wait for the smoking ban to begin. Reassure your readers that there will be no need for the publicans or restaurant managers to enforce the ban. As has been the case in Australia for many years, it is most often other restaurant diners or pub-goers - at last legally entitled to eat and drink in a smoke-free zone - who will request smokers to desist or have their cigarettes outside. - Yours etc.,
LADY KILBRACKEN,
Killegar,
Carrigallen,
Co Leitrim.
Madam, - Tim Dunne (December 29th) suggests that second-hand tobacco smoke is not at all that bad. He cites a scientific source.
But while tobacco smoke might not kill me, am I not entitled to be revolted? I loathe Irish pubs because the smoke makes me cough and when I get home I have to put everything I have worn (yes, it is that bad) into the washing machine.
Smokers make the rest of us want to puke. We are about to be liberated. - Yours, etc.,
P.D. DOYLE,
Summerville,
Clontarf Road,
Dublin 3.
Madam, - The pharmacist is a highly trained expert on medicines, and the most accessible healthcare professional - available instantly, without appointment, to give free advice on medicines and general healthcare matters.
In his article "What to do if you want to quit smoking" (The Irish Times, December 30th), Dr Muiris Houston fails to recognise the involvement of pharmacists in smoking cessation as evidenced by our long association in promoting the anti-smoking message. It is inevitable that many smokers who want to quit contact a pharmacist, who provides motivational advice as well as the appropriate form of nicotine replacement therapy.
We hope that 2004 will usher in the long-awaited reforms on smoking which will be beneficial to all. - Yours, etc,
RICHARD COLLIS, MPSI,
President, Irish
Pharmaceutical Union,
Dublin 14.