Survey: Smoking is top visitor faux pas

LONDON, March 24 (UPI) -- A survey suggests Britons consider smoking without permission in someone else's home to be the most serious breach of house-visiting etiquette.

The survey, conducted by the BBC's Good Homes magazine, found respondents considered smoking to be a more serious etiquette breech than criticizing home decor, raiding the refrigerator or overstaying a welcome, The Scotsman reported Monday.

"What this poll shows is how much more aware people now are about how harmful second-hand smoke can be," said Sheila Duff, chief executive of anti-smoking organization Ash Scotland. "It's not about blaming smokers, because tobacco is highly addictive and is still heavily promoted all over the world."

Neil Rafferty, spokesman for the smokers' rights group Forest, said public opinion swaying against smokers is less a result of health issues and more a result of anti-smoking groups demonizing smokers.

"You would never have seen the same kind of findings in a poll like this 15 to 20 years ago," he said. "The anti-smoking brigade have basically managed to turn smokers into social lepers these days."