Smoking accounts for a large part of the health inequality seen among men. 

Encouraging smoking cessation, increasing taxes on tobacco, banning tobacco advertising and smoking in public places may be a pragmatic way to address the contribution of smoking to health inequality among men. 

It does however shift the locus of responsibility on to the individual and away from the structural causes of inequality – poverty, lack of opportunity, lack of investment, etc – that are so strongly associated with smoking.  The benefits from reducing inequality are far more wide ranging, profound and long lasting than the health benefits from reducing the incidence of smoking, or making the air clearer in our favourite restaurant.

Comment on

The Lancet, Volume 368, Issue 9533, 29 July 2006-4 August 2006, Pages 367-370

(Prabhat Jha, Richard Peto, Witold Zatonskic, Jillian Boreham, Martin J Jarvis and Alan D Lopez)