Smoking should be mentioned as cause of death on death certificates

EDITOR—Tobacco related diseases cause an estimated two million deaths a year in developed countries.1 Smoking has always been permitted as a cause of death on death certificates in Britain, but such deaths had to be reported to the coroner. Since September 1992 the coroner has not needed to be notified, provided the disease causing death was given.2 We explored the inclusion of smoking as a certified cause of death from before the change in regulations up to February 1997. Since March …