Defending Smokers

I was shocked to read the commentary by Jere Witter (“Smokers Circle Wagons in a Cruel World” (April 16), in which he describes nonsmokers as “hypochondriacs” and our concern for breathing clean air as “illusory nonsense.”

The Times was irresponsible to print an article and cartoon making fun of such a serious subject. Death is not funny. As offensive as this article is to me personally, the worst effect could be to encourage young people to ignore serious medical warnings on the hazards of smoking and start the addiction.

STEVE JACKSON

Huntington Beach