EDITOR—Robinson et al report that most British doctors do not put smoking as a cause of death.1 We should recognise, however, that doctors will have difficulty in identifying a clear link between smoking and death in individual patients. The recommendation in the report of the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health that smoking status should be “recorded as part of the death registration process to aid monitoring the evolving epidemic of tobacco related diseases” is more practical.2 We agree that smoking status should be recorded on all death certificates and not only as a specified cause of death, but further …