Not So Hard Evidence

‘THERE cannot be many people out there who do not know by now that smoking is bad for you. But still we do it.

‘Look! My penis has just dropped off’

Whatever the scare stories and the Government-sponsored drives to get us to stub out the evil weed, many of us choose to smoke.

And the Government seems to be realising that telling people what to do rarely, if ever, works.

The Times says that John Reid, the Health Secretary, is sceptical about the nannying of grown adults.

Rather than banning smoking from public places, he is thought to favour an education policy, whereby consumers are told about the benefits of exercise and so become more able to make ‘informed choices’.

That sounds good, but since the adults who smoke have in large part made their choice (i.e. to smoke), Mr Reid’s plan seems flawed.

But while the Government’s approach to the smoking problem is honed, the Guardian has seen a report by the British Medical Association which blames cigarette smoking for the impotence of 120,000 men between the ages of 30 and 50 and lies at the root of many couples’ troubles in conceiving.

The conclusion the paper draws from the report, entitled Smoking And Reproductive Life, is that ‘both partners should stop smoking before they attempt to conceive a child’.

This is sage advice, the kind of message our fire service workers will be keen to spread.

But since many men believe that a cigarette adds to their mystique, and so raises their chances of them finding a mate in the first place, the advice is sure to fall on deaf ears.

And then maybe not everyone wants children. Now there’s a revolutionary concept…’

Posted: 12th, February 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink