FOR at least four decades we have known smoking is bad for us. It causes cancer, heart disease, all manner of respiratory problems and shortens lives.

But even after years of grim statistics today's bleak figure has the power to shock: nearly one-third of all deaths in York and North Yorkshire are caused by cigarettes.

Will this persuade Yorkshire's smokers to quit? Of course not. Nicotine is too powerful a drug. Simply flashing addicts' mortality in front of them is not enough to break the habit.

Smokers are confronted by the harm they are doing to themselves every time they reach for a cigarette. Packets are plastered with dire health warnings. Some ignore the words; others stock up on cigarettes while abroad, so the message is obscured by a foreign language; more have opted to empty 20 king-size into a silver case.

Despite this mass state of denial, most smokers want to give up. And society has a duty to them, their families and those who breathe in their second-hand smoke, to help them quit.

Following a report on the very real dangers of passive smoking, these figures will place extra pressure on the Government to follow Ireland and Scotland by introducing a ban on smoking in public places.

The Irish experiment has led to a sharp rise in the number of smokers quitting. Evidence is mounting that a similar law would save thousands of English lives.

Updated: 11:05 Friday, November 12, 2004