Cigarette shock pics confirmed

SHOCK images are to begin appearing on cigarette packets in France next year, more than two years after the idea was first proposed.

Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said she had signed the decree that will force cigarette manufacturers to show pictures of the damage smoking does to the body.

One of 14 images will take up 40% of the space on the back of every packet sold in France, with messages such as "Smokers die early" and "Smoking causes deadly lung cancer".

Anti-smoking groups have been calling for the shock tactics for several years. Producers and tobacconists have a year to use up their existing stocks.

Ms Bachelot said she was "favourable" to the idea in October 2008 after a study by the University of Rennes showed that the method was an efficient way of reducing the amount of cigarettes sold.