MORE than 50 per cent of people in hospital are there through tobacco-related illness. The filters in the stubs thrown away take 15 years to biodegrade.

These matters affect all the citizens of the UK in one way or another. However, our actions do not take into account that we are not an isolated country, but that we are world citizens with subsequent concerns.

Nearly 600 million trees are felled each year to provide the fuel necessary for drying out the tobacco. That means the nine million acres being deforested annually for tobacco production and it accounts for nearly five per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

In Malawi, in a region where only three per cent of the farmers grow tobacco, nearly 80 per cent of the trees cut down each year are used for the curing process.

Parts of Uganda are losing much of their arable land as the topsoil erodes. Chemicals banned in developed countries are used.

They pollute the water table and add to the increasing water shortages.

This is just one of the issues that are remote from us, but result from our actions.

Bill Morehead, Darlington.