Dear Sir,
I refer to the article on the County Council’s Award for reducing smoking and in particular to what I believe to be a gross misrepresentation of the facts.
In the referenced article, Alison Cox the director of cancer preservation at Cancer Research UK is quoted as having stated, “Smoking is the largest cause of premature deaths in the UK and remains the public health challenge of our generation”.
According to Government Statistics there have been in excess of 7,850,000 legal abortions In England and Wales between 1968 and 2014. These cannot be said to be other than premature deaths, whether sanctioned by an Act of Parliament, or not.
There being no doubt as to the actual cause of death, even the most zealous anti-smoking campaigner cannot blame smoking, or even, secondary smoking!
Can the Anti-Smoking Lobby prove that smoking alone caused a greater number of premature deaths in the same period? I would therefore respectfully request that the anti-smoking lobby refrain from hyperbole and using incorrect facts in their future campaigns.  It is illegal for public funded bodies to mislead the public, whether well intentioned or not.
Further, if the National Health Service were committed to reducing the number of premature deaths in the population at large (as it should be) and not restricting its efforts only to those who smoke (legally) it would be logical for it to commit its resources to lobbying for the Abortion Act to be repealed.
This would result in a better return on any monies it rightly commits to reducing premature death.
Alastair P.G. Welsh.