How very inconvenient it must be for tobacco companies if they invest in arts sponsorship to circumvent an advertising ban, only to find that ministers of culture, who should be grateful for the funds, implement the law as parliament intended.

This can be seen in Denmark which, despite valiant efforts by the health community, lingers second only to Germany at the bottom of the tobacco control league in northern Europe, in terms of public and political awareness about tobacco.

Early in 1999, Tobaksbladfet, a …