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Hypertension guidelines 1B blockers no good for smokers EDITOR,-Though I welcome the British Hypertension Society's management guidelines in essential hypertension, I am dismayed that there is no mention of the importance of smoking in the choice of first line antihypertensive drug.' The Medical Research Council's trials in both young and older adults clearly showed that smokers do not benefit from , blockers.23 Moreover, the trial in older adults indicated that the excess noncardiovascular mortality in the treated groups was largely attributable to cancers in the ,B blocker group.3 I am not aware of any study of hypertension which has refuted these grave doubts about (B