Angela Sharp's letter last week about the threat to people's health if something is not done now, and in the future, to deal with the danger of pollution hovering, almost literally, over our heads shows that her interest is in the right place.

However, she reminds one of the little girl in the Wizard of Oz movie who with her inadequate companions set off to find some sort of wizard to put things right.

She ought to be reminded that the nation's health has little to do with poor air conditions but is more as a result of almost self-inflicted injury caused by overeating, ridiculously high levels of alcohol consumption, the smoking of cigarettes and indulging in drug taking to keep one going in today's highly competitive business world.

Most readers will not be familiar with the smog that affected us here in London before smokeless zones were thought about. Days when one's collar became visibly soiled by lunchtime and evenings when one stumbled around in a fog-laden atmosphere trying to find the front door.

Go and visit some homes for the elderly in London today and find how many men and women, especially the latter, have survived into their 90s despite the vicissitudes of the war years and the many years of austerity and poor breathing conditions after 1945.

We are a tough, pretty resilient lot, or were. If you dig deep something pretty horrible would have to happen to us if we were not going to survive. Aeroplanes zooming over our heads day and night are unlikely to be the cause of people being unable or unwilling to work and straining the benefits system.

JIM PASQUAL Frogley House, Estridge Close, Hounslow.