Nicola Sturgeon has launched a member's bill

The committee was considering the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Scotland) Bill, introduced by Scottish National Party health spokeswoman, Nicola Sturgeon.

Professor Elaine Rankin, an adviser to Cancer Research UK, said Scotland should "give a lead to the rest of the UK" even though it would not be as effective as a UK-wide ban.

She said: "I personally would feel that the problem in Scotland is such that we should just get on with it, while accepting that it's an imperfect ban."

Prof Rankin said nearly one quarter of deaths in Scotland were related to smoking and pointed out that the country had the highest rate of lung cancer in the entire world.

Medical experts

She told MSPs that 30% of 15-year-olds in Scotland smoked while people of all ages on low incomes were more likely to smoke.

Prof Rankin added that 330 people died every day across the UK as a result of the habit, but complained that the death toll did not attract the same attention as rail crashes or disease outbreaks like BSE.

Health bodies are keen to see people quit smoking

Three leading medical experts, representing the vast majority of consultant physicians and surgeons in Scotland, also backed calls for a Scotland-only ban.

The argument was made by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh vice-president, Prof Neil Douglas, and past president Sir John Crofton, as well as Dr Robert Monie, from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

Prof Douglas said: "We strongly believe it's inappropriate to promote a product which kills 35 Scots per day.

Support for ban

"In total 22% of all deaths in Scotland are premature, preventable deaths due to smoking and we believe every attempt should be made to prevent this."

He said the Scottish Royal Colleges supported a ban, in conjunction with a general prohibition on any form of tobacco promotion.

Prof Douglas conceded that sports advertising on television would be difficult to regulate but he insisted the problem was "entirely surmountable".

Anti-tobacco charity Ash Scotland said it welcomed a commitment by Deputy Health Minister Mary Mulligan to introduce a ban.

But Simon Clark, director of the smokers' pressure group Forest, said MSPs could be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in trying to ban a "perfectly legal product".