I READ with interest Dr Conway's view on government proposals to penalise people who smoke and are overweight. I felt Dr Conway sought to be too clear and definite in a very grey area.

There are many kinds of organisation producing noxious substances, from rubbish foods to addictive drugs, in order to make a profit. Their customers range from the very tough to the very weak, from those who can resist the onslaught easily to those who can't at all.

It would seem that obesity is a large part of the grey area where some people might have an illness or a genetic propensity where others are simply sedentary gluttons and until we know which are which we can't make any rules. We all have to eat.

However, we don't have to draw smoke into our lungs or to inject ourselves with poisons. These are learned behaviours into which at some crucial stage in the past the customer has been duped or pressurised. This is where there could be rules, which would say, 'If you do this and become ill, the NHS has no obligation to try and cure you, only to attempt to manage your pain'. I believe that such a sword of Damocles, which would receive wide publicity, is needed in order to make the customer think very hard before setting out on a possible path to self-destruction.

MR R PETTIT

Wootton Bassett