Campaign uses dying man

A new campaign in France hopes to shock smokers into kicking the habit by using real-life images of a man dying of lung cancer.

The television warning depicts an emaciated 49-year-old man sitting on his bed, five days before his death. "This is just a smoker who started at 14 when you think you're immortal," says a voice on the 27-second film. "He could never stop."

Images of the man's life appear on his bedroom wall throughout the film, which ends with a warning: "Starting at 14 is fatal." Gerard Dubois, the president of the National Anti-Smoking Committee, which produced the film, said the man shown, Richard Gourlain, had asked his wife to film him hoping the footage could be used to discourage others from smoking. Gourlain died in 1999.

"You can say it's sensational, it's too tough, but we wanted to show the truth," said Mr Dubois.

An anti-smoking campaign last month said a common product had been found to contain toxic substances and asked people to phone a toll-free number for information.

Half-a-million people called, and were told the product was the cigarette.