Health Bill [HL]

I thank the noble Lord very much. I am glad to have been corrected on that point, but perhaps we should have a Private Member’s Bill to ban tobacco and see exactly what the Government’s attitude is to that. As I was saying, there are all sorts of promotions. The Government promote with billions of pounds all sorts of organisations which some of us do not like and which, indeed, may be very harmful to people’s health. Of course, other products which are sold and promoted with a large amount of advertising and so on do considerable damage not only to people but to the social framework of our lives. I am always told that smoking kills. However, I am sure that it would be agreed that smoking does not kill everyone who smokes. Indeed, as I have pointed out before, 78 per cent of those who die from smoking-relating diseases are over 65 years of age. Under that age, the number is very small indeed.