Whose warning
Sir: Perhaps I could add a footnote to Thomas Gadd's comments on the confusion surrounding motivations to smoke or not to smoke which, if their consequences were not so grim, would have a certain dotty charm. .
The smoke-packet slogan, as Mr Gadd describes it, does not even. have the status of 'partisan nudging' which he ascribes to it. The most that can be said is that it is a harlot and his use of 'accosting' as an epithet is, therefore, apt.
We know from our surveys that the Government health warning, to give it its usual title, discourages smoking hardly if at all amongst a few people; that it is disregarded by a great many; and that for some it is nothing less than a positive encouragement because of the patronising, interfering connotation of the word 'Government.' Doubtless the tobacco manufacturers, whose survey resources are infinitely greater than ours, know a great deal more; and doubtless this is why they still allow it to appear.
A. C. L. Mackie. Director General
The Health Education Council, 78 New Oxford Street, London WC I
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