I've listened to 40 years of health propaganda about smoking but I've never been persuaded to quit, mostly because I just don't believe it. Indonesians like those in the photo must enjoy it too because the country has one of the highest smoking rates in the world.
However if I found myself in their fellow countryman Andi Susanti's position, I think I would give up the fags in a flash. The cigarette he was smoking exploded in his mouth as he was riding his motorcycle to work. He lost six teeth and had to have 51 stitches.
Police are investigating, the tobacco company has paid Andi's medical costs but says there is nothing in the cigarette's ingredients that would cause such a reaction. I have seen a comment floating around the net that suggests " a small trace of rocket fuel is included in tobacco products" and another that said "everyone knows the best way to give up is through the NHS." Oh Pleeeaaase!
The EU might just pick up on this little titbit to bully and frighten smokers into quitting in droves to meet their target of getting them down to 10% by 2010 - and increase the funds of Big Pharma in doing so when smokers rush for their quit drugs. It's grasping at straws like the desperate NuLab Govt which has just introduced it's electoral suicide note in the form of more draconian and illberal laws aimed at persecuting smokers further.