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Antismoking groups lobby against Lords report

London Lynn Eaton

Antismoking groups have hit back at a report by the Economic Affairs Committee of the House of Lords, published last week (BMJ 2006;332:1349, 10 Jun), which slated bans on smoking in public places as an “over-reaction to the scientific evidence on passive smoking.”

The committee, which was looking into threats to personal liberty and the management of risk, said that compared with the risks associated with passive smoking in the home those associated with smoking in public places was minor.

But the lobby group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) described the report as “grossly misleading.” And the BMA, along with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Royal College of Nursing, has written to members of the House of Lords to clarify the situation.

The letter, from James Johnson, chairman of the BMA council, Alan Craft, chairman of the academy, and Beverly Malone, general . . . [Full text of this article]

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