England’s Chief Medical Officer has renewed his attack on Big Tobacco.
In a speech reported by the Telegraph:
The cigarette industry should be destroyed for the benefit of public health, Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the UK Government’s Chief Medical Adviser, has said.
It’s not the first time Whitty has raged against the tobacco industry but this time it seemed to strike a nerve, on Twitter at least.
Even though it was quite late when we tweeted his comment - with a link to the Telegraph report - the response far exceeded the usual reaction to a Forest tweet.
The comments too were almost universally hostile to the CMO. For example:
What an odious man.
Zealot who should not be in office.
People like him just make me wanna smoke more and more.
Next it will be alcohol, these people enjoyed their lockdown powers way too much.
He was prepared to destroy society in the interest of Public Health.
Tobacco puritans and nannies who want to define other people's lives.
I enjoy a few beers and I enjoy smoking it's personal choice and yes it might shorten my life but life is about risk. Jumping out of an aircraft next year from 1500ft. Yes I might die if the parachute doesn't open, my choice however.
I wish they'd stop treating us as 5 yr olds. Where does it end? We cant drink? We can't cross the road without government consent? We can't eat meat? Government sanctioned insect food? Only have heat when we're allowed? This isn't living, this is imprisonment!
Also (and more nuanced):
It's a difficult one. As a non smoker I can see that it's immoral to sell goods you know cause harm/death. But I also know people who have smoked moderately into very old age as one of the few 'pleasures' in their life. One man's meat is another man's poison.
More on this and the return of the stop smoking blob later.
Update: Discussed this with Vanessa Feltz and Deborah Arnott of ASH on TalkTV this afternoon. I say discussed. At one point it felt like Deborah was trying to usurp Feltz and take on the presenter’s role. Talk about pushy!
