industry has been misleading the public for 30 years and allowing people to die for the sake of dollars present an ideal opportunity to ban the public smoking of tobacco.

The American Medical Association has detailed and damning evidence that the American tobacco industry covered up the addictive and cancer causing impact of cigarette smoking for three decades.

The American Medical Association is quoted as saying, "The evidence is unequivocal -- the US public has been duped by the tobacco industry. We should all be outraged and we should force the removal of this scourge from our nation and by so doing set an example for the world.'' It is now clear that tobacco is poison and that second-hand tobacco smoke is also poison and while people have a right to smoke themselves, they have no right to poison others. Therefore we are not suggesting an outright ban on cigarette smoking. We are suggesting a ban on tobacco use in all public places and we are suggesting a ban on all public promotion of any kind of tobacco use.

Bermuda should start by banning all cigarette advertising. These ads are now designed to push cigarettes on those who are vulnerable, the poor and the young. It should be a serious offence to sell cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18 years. To that end we should ban all cigarette vending machines which are an easy source of cigarettes for under-age smokers. With a ban on smoking in public places, we should ban the sale of cigarettes anywhere except those liquor shops and grocery stores now licensed to sell liquor. Age identification would be needed to purchase cigarettes just as it is now needed to buy alcohol. Tobacco should not be sold in restaurants or bars or in shops since it could not be used there.

Smoking is no longer an issue of free choice for the smoker. People who do not smoke also have rights. Smoking is a public health issue and a very serious one. Therefore we should take steps to protect the general public. If we are unwilling to take steps to curb the use of tobacco, we should take steps to protect the innocent. Smokers have no more right to pollute someone else's lungs than they have to break into their homes. There is a second issue, the cost of health care. The costs of health care for people suffering from tobacco related diseases are enormous and should not be inflicted on the general public or reflected in high insurance costs. The solution is obviously a medical fund created from a tax on tobacco sales. Bermuda should calculate the costs and relate them to the packages of cigarettes sold.

In the past there has been a strange reluctance on the part of Health Ministry officials to protect Bermudians but the evidence against tobacco is growing and soon a failure to protect the public will be a dereliction of duty.

We call upon the Minister of Health to tell the public what these tobacco related health costs are. A tax which increased cigarette costs to seven or eight dollars a package would not be unreasonable.

But we must act because cigarettes are killing Bermudians.