Wellington - A New Zealand cancer doctor announced on Friday that he was taking up smoking as a protest against radiation therapists who are
harming his patients with a series of strikes seeking pay hikes.

"I've tried everything sensible, so now I am doing something stupid," Chris Wynne, clinical director of radiation oncology at Christchurch Hospital, told The Press newspaper. "Appealing to common sense hasn't solved these strikes."

Wynne, who said he had tried cigarettes only once before as a teenager, said his protest was to highlight the suffering of cancer patients through the industrial action by radiation therapists, who are planning another three-day strike starting on January 9.
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