ATHE TOBACCO CONTROL OFFICER of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados is observing that more women are lighting up here in Barbados than ever before.

Although no new survey has been conducted, Wayne Hunte is questioning the reported ten per cent of the population said to smoke when, according to him, a lot more professional and non-professional women could be seen puffing.

He said the figures did not represent the true picture as, in his view, a researcher who went to a woman and asked if she smoked would likely get a negative answer.

"If a researcher asks a woman if she smokes, she is more likely to say no because, in the time past, smoking is something that only bad women did, and no woman wants to be identified as bad. But I am seeing more professional women each day of the week smoking, and then you consider the occasional smokers.

"So to my mind, there is definitely an increase in smoking among women, which may well mean that Barbados will have a greater number than the reported ten per cent," he said. (PE)