GRAPHIC images showing smoking related diseases could be appear on cigarette packets sold in Guernsey. After public consultation, pictures depicting conditions such as lung cancer and heart disease will feature on all tobacco products in the UK from the end of 2009, under new regulation.

Guernsey’ director of public health Dr David Jeffs said he would be pushing hard to implement the same initiative here in an effort to discourage people from smoking.

‘I think that Guernsey has been ahead of the UK on anti-smoking initiatives such as banning it in public places and we are aware of this, but for one reason or another progress has been slow,’ he said.

‘We have been in touch with Channel Islands Tobacco Importers Association for at least three years and there is another meeting scheduled for September.

‘The tobacco companies have used the excuse that Guernsey is too small a market to print warnings for and insisted they had to use up their existing stock and that position has not changed since.

‘We are beginning to get a little impatient and will be putting pressure on them to change their ways.

‘The current warnings are very small and smokers discard them, but all the research shows that graphic images are much more successful.

‘Some smokers get so upset they buy covers for the cigarette packets and I don’t think they would go to such trouble if these pictures didn’t have an effect.’

CITIMA confirmed it was currently involved in discussions with the Channel island Health Authorities regarding the new health warnings.

In a statement it said: ‘These discussions have been taking place over a considerable amount of time.

‘A further meeting between CITIMA and the Channel Islands health authorities has already been scheduled and we look forward to reaching agreement on the arrangements for the introduction of pictorial health warnings on tobacco products in the Islands.’