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Health Bill

First, I defend absolutely the right of any individual to smoke when they are alone, but I absolutely deny them the right to smoke where by doing so they are damaging the health of other people. I was very glad when, a week last Saturday, sitting at St James’s Park for a football match, I and more than 52,000 others heard the announcer say, ““The risks of passive smoking are well-known, and therefore there will be no smoking in the seated areas in this stadium””. Those who deny the risks of passive smoking have not read the material to which, in passing, the Minister referred in the evidence produced by WHO and many other scientific bodies. There are 71 peer-reviewed publications which testify to the damage that can be done by passive smoking. So I do not believe that those who argue that the risk is negligible have any evidence upon which to base that view.