A new anti-smoking campaign aimed at young people and billed as the "most hard-hitting ever" has arrived on TV screens as the Government seeks to restore its anti-smoking credibility.

The Public Health Minister, Tessa Jowell, unveiled the �2.5m TV advertising campaign, which features real people who have cancer and other smoking-related diseases and the doctors who treat them, at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

Katie Aston, the Cancer Programme Manager for the Health Education Authority which devised the campaign, said: "The time has come to let the real victims of tobacco tell their stories.

"The people in our new TV ads are graphic examples of the pain and suffering caused by smoking; they are still young and they face serious illness, and possible death, because they smoked."

The adverts also show Pathologist Andrew Nicholson and Radiologist David Hanse at work at the Royal Brompton Hospital, which specialises in heart and lung disease.

Ms Aston said: "Research has shown us that younger smokers underestimate the health risks of smoking.

"In response, the TV adverts take a hard-hitting approach, showing young people that smoking can cause serious damage to younger people. It's not just people in their 60s and 70s.

"The message to young people is simple: it won't get any easier to give up later, give up now."

The three-month publicity offensive comes at a time when the Government's is trying to repair its image after the row over its decision to exempt Formula One motor racing from a ban on tobacco advertising in sport.

Latest figures from the HEA show that 35% of men and 29% of women aged 16 to 24 are regular smokers. It is estimated about half of these will die early as a result of smoking.

The TV campaign will be backed by radio and magazine advertising which will focus on the benefits of giving up smoking and provide tips for quitting.

It appears as new research suggests that almost two-thirds of school pupils who smoke regularly think they are no more likely to get lung cancer than non-smokers of their own age.

Less than half of current young smokers would like to give up and only 52% think they ever will, according to the survey.
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