The hard-hitting written warnings on cigarette packets are failing because smokers have become 'immune' to the threats, a leading expert suggests.
Amanda Sandford, research manager at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), has offered her support to new plans to include pictorial warnings on tobacco products, as she suggests this could disrupt the current complacency.
Her comments came after the government of New Zealand revealed that graphic pictures of diseased lungs and gangrenous toes will become a compulsory part of cigarette packets from 2008, bringing the country in line with both Australia and Canada.
The pictures, which will cover 30 per cent of the front of the packet and 90 per cent of the rear, have been welcomed by many anti-smoking campaigners as a major step in the right direction.
Ms Sandford said: "The written health warnings are fine up to a point and they were a huge improvement on the tiny text warnings which used to appear. The large text was definitely an important step but people do become immune to those after a while. We want to keep reinforcing the message about the dangers of smoking."
Those who disagree with the use of such images argue that smokers are already aware of the dangers and that they have taken a mature and considered decision to smoke anyway. But Ms Sandford contests that ignorance is still rife, with many underestimating the sheer impact that smoking can have upon the human body.
"There can't be many people who don't know that smoking causes lung cancer, but people don't always know about the link between smoking and heart disease," she pointed out.
She also drew attention to macular diseases of the eye, adding that smoking can lead to blindness. "It's things like this that people are not aware of," she stressed.
While admitting that "hardcore" smokers will never listen to the warnings, Ms Sandford insisted that people on the verge of quitting will certainly be swayed by graphic images. At the very least, the pictures will "make people stop and think", she added.
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