Sir, - The claim by Philip Morris that the early deaths of smokers save governments money was so shocking that it seems to have stunned us all. Having recovered sufficiently to see in the report anything other than the utterly shameless attempt to prevent governments suing them for the cost of healthcare, two things occur to me:
1, The world's largest cigarette manufacturers can never again deny that its product kills.
2, Nor can they ever again deny that it is aware of the fact, though using every possible means available to it to increase sales.
Having thus admitted to knowingly causing death, is it not time it is subject to the legal action normally taken against those who knowingly cause death? - Yours, etc.,
Carolyn Swift, Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4.