I.M. Beck's tirade titled "Oh do shut up" (March 20) caused me to raise not one but both my eyebrows in surprise at its inaccuracies.

By the "less than detached functionaries" of the minister of health, I.M. Beck is referring to the members of the ministry of health's committee on smoking and health, which includes local experts in health and education, together with the general manager of the Central Cigarette Company Ltd as the representative of the tobacco industry.

The tobacco smoking control legislation which he called a "pig's breakfast" as it was "so badly written, so downright unworkable and so completely based on junk science" was established on recommendations drawn up by the legal experts of the European Community and the World Health Organisation. The draft legislation was then referred to the government's lawyers for the necessary adaptation to the local scene before publication.

Last but not least, I.M. Beck seems to have forgotten that he himself, in his role of lawyer to the Tobacco Industry Advisory Council, was involved in the drafting process of the tobacco smoking control legislation.

Together with three members of the committee for smoking and health, he formed part of a sub-committee which met twice (on March 25, 1999 in his office at Valletta and on June 11, 1999 in the Health Promotion Department in Floriana) to examine and recommend on the legal niceties of the draft legislation. The committee on smoking and health eventually passed such legislation to the Health Division in May 2000.

The above facts prove false I.M. Beck's assertion that the law was drawn up without consulting those concerned - the representatives of the tobacco industry.

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