Now President Clinton has moved to increase prices hoping to take cigarettes out of the price range of young Americans. Various states have also imposed strong rules covering public smoking.

Bermuda has done practically nothing and the recent Budget failed to increase duties on cigarettes to create a price which might encourage people to stop smoking. We even go on allowing children access to cigarette vending machines knowing that tobacco companies like nothing better than getting their customers early.

Thus we were very interested this weekend in a story in our sister paper, the Mid-Ocean News. They reported that a Bermudian, Dr. Tim Lancaster, a former Rhodes Scholar and award winning Royal Gazette journalist, is heading a ground breaking United Kingdom research project exploring effective ways to break the smoking habit. Dr. Lancaster is at Oxford University where he works in a research group looking at cancer issues. He will spearhead a massive drive by the British National Health Service to reduce smoking and smoking related diseases.

Basically Dr. Lancaster and his team are looking at ways to help people break the smoking habit. At present he says all treatments have a fairly low success rate.

We know that the tobacco lobby in Bermuda is strong and active and well connected to the United Bermuda Party but that should not be a reason not to move to protect Bermudians from tobacco and its attendant illnesses.

We think Bermuda should move on three fronts. High taxes to discourage smoking which should be used to support the hospitals or taxes on importers high enough to cover the hospital costs of tobacco related cancers. Laws to govern smoking outside the home, especially in places where the public assembles. And strong regulations to ban cigarette machines which children can access and strong laws to prevent young people from purchasing cigarettes.

Not to do that is not responsible and may indicate that the Government is bowing to the tobacco lobby. That lobby is not going to police itself because it prefers money to people.

The day will probably come when ash trays will be as obsolete as spitoons but it is not here yet and in the meantime Government has a duty to perform. We think it should start by inviting Dr. Tim Lancaster home to give advice and to offer suggestions for a public programme to stop smoking. Then the tobacco importers may also become as obsolete as spitoons.