LARRY WARREN,
Madam, - While one cannot but agree with Anne Byrne (January 8th) that over-indulgence in alcohol is doing grave damage to health and family life, I cannot accept that this somehow gives smokers the right to damage their own health and that of others.
I write on behalf of the very many thousands of people who are vulnerable to tobacco smoke. People with asthma, Alpha-1, cystic fibrosis and other serious lung conditions are often prisoners in their own homes because pubs, restaurants and other places of recreation are polluted with tobacco smoke.
The people drinking beside me in a pub may be rotting their livers but they are not affecting mine. However, the people smoking beside me are damaging my arteries and lungs as well as their own. If I suffer from a serious lung condition, they could be killing me.
Therefore we must please consider others' rights to clean air, good health, to normal recreation, a drink and a meal out - as well as their right not only to a normal lifestyle but to life itself. - Yours etc.,
LARRY WARREN,
Alpha-1 Foundation,
RCSI Building,
Beaumont Hospital,
Dublin 9.