Very lowering
Sir: What Petronella Wyatt doesn't know about smoking would obviously fill a book (Furthermore, 17 February). But let me contradict her basic premise that smoking is somehow sexy.
Cigarettes cause sexual illness. Far from being 'sexually successful', male smokers have more difficulty in maintaining an erec- tion. Over 300 male smokers were involved in a study (Urology, February 1992) to mea- sure penile rigidity during nocturnal erec- tions. Men who smoked the most (40 cigarettes per day) had the fewest minutes of nocturnal tumescence and detumesced fastest. Cigarette smoking clogs your blood vessels, generites hypertension and increases the risk of vascular disease. These factors all cause impotence. I fail to see how a smoking gun with a floppy barrel can be called sexy.
Phillip Hodson
Trustee, The Impotence Association, c/oGrayling, 4 Bedford Square, London WC1
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