Mixed response to smoking warnings

Graphic pictures of throat cancer and rotting lungs which have appeared on cigarette packets have met with a mixed response in Shropshire's county town.

Smokers in Shrewsbury are undecided on whether or not they would be put off smoking by the images, which illustrating health risks.

The picture which drew most comments was of a man with a large cancerous growth under his chin.

Smoker Tracy Dickens, of Shrewsbury, said it would make her think twice about lighting up.

"The picture of throat cancer would put me off," she said. "The smoke has to go down past your throat so it is a worry.

"Whenever I get a sore throat I worry about whether it's cancer."

George King, of Shrewsbury, also singled out the throat cancer image as being an effective deterrent.

"Looking at that would make anyone stop. You wouldn't want to pick up a box with a photo of that on it," he said.

The images replace the previous warnings on the back of cigarette packets, although messages will continue to appear on the front.

But non-smokers Avaughan Watkins, of Newtown, and Alice Morton, of Church Stretton, said they did not think the pictures be any more effective than the written warnings.

"To be honest it probably wouldn't have any effect on me," Miss Watkins said. "The pictures aren't nice, but they wouldn't stop me from smoking if I wanted to."

Daniel Mason, of Wrexham, said he thought the images would only be as effective as the existing health warnings.

And Sam Rowe, who lost her father to lung cancer caused by smoking, said she could not see herself stopping because of the pictures.

"My dad dying didn't affect me wanting to stop, so I don't think the pictures will have any effect at all," she said.

Audrey Allen, of Portsmouth, said she had just started smoking again after having given up 18 months ago, but said the pictures were unlikely to change her mind.

But research carried out in Canada, which introduced picture warnings in 2001, revealed 31 per cent of ex-smokers said the images had motivated them to give up.