Save the lives of passive smokers

If there was ever any evidence needed for stricter anti-smoking laws, it comes in the latest research report published in the British medical journal The Lancet. According to a world-wide analysis of deaths, it is estimated that 600,000 people die every year from cigarette smoke — without a cigarette ever having been put to their lips.

These innocent and needless victims of passive smoke die because of the filthy habit of those who continue to consume nicotine, polluting the airspace of all of us, creating a toxic and dangerous environment for all.

There can be no excuse for not adhering to smoking bans, and stricter anti-tobacco measures are necessary to curtail this unacceptable death toll. Alarmingly, children are most vulnerable to second-hand cigarette smoke, falling prey to lung and cardiovascular diseases.

Sadly, only 7.4 per cent of people live in areas with effective anti-smoking laws.

Clearly, this statistic must change soon.