The report makes 37 separate
recommendations. They include:

⊙ The tobacco industry must accept that smoking is a major cause of premature death.
⊙ Firms must disclose to customers the nature and magnitude of the hazards of smoking.
⊙ Tobacco prices should rise each year to discourage people, especially the young, from smoking.
⊙ All forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship should be banned.
⊙ Use of nicotine patches should be encouraged.
⊙ Recording smoking status on death certificates should be considered.

*Remark by Supreme Master News: Nicotine patches can bring satisfaction to the tobacco smokers by allowing nicotine to be absorbed through the skin, without harming other people through smoking. However, we do not recommend the use of it either.

Passive smoking kills up to 80 babies a year and is responsible for several hundred deaths of non-smokers from lung cancer, a Government committee of scientists said yesterday. It called for a ban on smoking in public places, which could include restaurants, pubs and public service buildings, and Sir Kenneth Calman, Chief Medical Officer, hinted at action being announced in a White Paper this summer.

But Government sources stressed last night that ministers wanted any new curbs to be voluntary and there were no plans at this stage for legislation to ban smoking in public places.

In the wake of the furore over he banning of beef on the bone, Tony Blair is highly sensitive to suggestions that his Government is creating a "nanny state".

Ministers were said to be "very sceptical" about the need for additional legislation to ban smoking in pubs and restaurants.

They pointed to the growing success of voluntary action. Many offices and public buildings now have no-smoking rules and, increasingly, cinemas, theatres and public transport are also non-smoking.

"We are keen to go down the voluntary route. Legislation would be introduced only as a very last resort, if at all," a Government source said.

But confirmation of the increased risk from passive smoking is likely to put pressure on firms that allow smoking. Workers can use existing health and safety legislation to sue employers by arguing that their health has been damaged by a smoky environment. Tobacco manufacturers reacted angrily, saying the "nanny state" should not interfere in the existing balance between the rights of smokers and non-smokers.

The Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health said smoking caused 120,000 deaths a year, one fifth of all deaths in Britain, led to higher levels of heart disease and contributed to increasing asthma and wheezing illnesses in children.

"The enormous damage to health and life arising from smoking should no longer be accepted," it said. "The Government should take effective action to limit this preventable epidemic."

The report, by a committee chaired by Sir David Poswillo, of Guy's and St Thomas's hospitals, is the most authoritative statement by a Government body on tobacco and health for 10 years.

Its findings provide the scientific evidence on smoking that will underpin a range of anti-smoking measures to be announced in a White Paper on smoking reduction.

It said children whose parents smoke were twice as likely to be the victims of sudden infant death and at a 50 per cent increased risk of suffering serious breathing difficulties.

Those exposed to other people's smoke long term were up to 30 per cent more likely to contract lung cancer, resulting in several hundred extra deaths a year.

Passive smoking also caused heart disease and represented "a substantial public health hazard".

Smoking in pregnancy caused increased risk of miscarriage, reduced birth weight and perinatal death. If parents continued to smoke there was an increased rate of cot deaths.

"Sudden infant death syndrome, the main cause of perinatal death in the first year of life, is associated with exposure to environmental (other people's) tobacco smoke. The association is judged to be one of cause and effect."

★Report shows passive smoking does cause cancer

The report, published on No Smoking Day, said "Smoking should not be allowed in public service buildings or on public transport other than in designated and isolated areas. Where possible smoking should not be permitted in the workplace."

It comes three days after a row between the World Health Organisation and tobacco manufactures over passive smoking risk.

Manufacturers, who leaked findings of the WHO report, claimed that it found no extra risk of lung cancer from inhaling other people's smoke.

WHO then issued a statement saying its study did show a link between lung cancer and passive smoking and accused the tobacco industry of staging a "wholly misleading" publicity stunt.

The chief medical officer, came down firmly on the side of WHO yesterday, saying its findings were in line with those of the latest report.

"This report has a really powerful message and should not be missed," he said.

The chairman of the Commons health select committee, Labour MP David Hinchliffe, also said he expected ministers to bring forward proposals for action.

"The impact on the public health is very clear. I think it would be irresponsible of the Government not to act to include in the White Paper proposals to protect the public in a range of ways."

However, John Carlisle, executive director of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, said the evidence that passive smoking caused lung cancer in others was "insignificant".

But he said parents who smoked should seek their doctor's advice about smoking in the presence of babies and children.

Dr Chris Proctor, of British American Tobacco, said that everyone knew the risks associated with smoking but "being around a smoker" was quite different from smoking itself.

Clive Bates, director of the anti-smoking group ASH, said: "The question now is whether the Government has the political guts to act on the advice of its own committee."

Dr Sandy Macara, chairman of the British Medical Association, said the tobacco industry should hang its corporate head in shame.

Evidence in the report shows that half of all smokers are killed by the habit unless they quit. Those who live with a smoker have a 26 per cent increased risk of lung cancer and a 23 per cent increased risk of heart disease.

People who smoke regularly have a 15 times greater risk of developing lung cancer compared with non-smokers.

One in five of the 400 cot deaths every year are the result of the mother smoking.