The 12-week public consultation on new measures to discourage smoking is laudable ("Proposal to raise smoking age to 21"; Dec 30).

Smoking addiction is well known and kicking the habit is never easy.

For our fight to be successful, our health authorities have to educate our young in collaboration with the school authorities.

Primary school and lower secondary students must be educated on the perils of smoking.

Regular talks given by doctors and other health educators to students, as well as smoking and health-related exhibitions, should be part of the national campaign to discourage new smokers.

This campaign against smoking must never stop if we want to further reduce the number of smokers here.

Kang Choon Tian