BY now there cannot be a smoker left in the UK who is unaware of the fact that their habit is bad for the health. For every time they pick up a packet of cigarettes, they are confronted with stark reminders of the risk.

Current legislation dictates that 30 per cent of the surface of tobacco packaging must be taken up with one of two messages: "Smoking kills", or "Smoking seriously harms you and others around you".

And another 40 per cent has to be devoted to one of 14 other health warnings, such as "Smokers die younger", or "Smoking is highly addictive".

But now the government has decided to go even further.

By the end of 2009, the UK will become the first country in the European Union to include visual warnings on tobacco products. Fifteen images, including those of a diseased heart, lungs, and rotten teeth, have been chosen to accompany the written warnings.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson believes the shock factor will encourage more people to give up. "The vast majority of smokers want to give up and this will give them an extra push," he said.

But is there a danger that smokers will feel so browbeaten that they will switch off? Dorset clinical psychologist Dr Gerald Bennett, who specialises in treating addictions, said: "There are lots of different routes by which people give up smoking.

"Some people are affected by things that make them frightened, other people will just ignore it. Frightening people by itself doesn't work. Fear can help, but only for certain people who are susceptible to that at the time."

He added: "Most people who stop smoking don't do it for any rational reason. Most people stop because something horrible happens to them or somebody close to them."

Dr Bennett suggested that an advertising campaign emphasising the benefits of giving up smoking could be more effective.

"When you talk to people who have been addicted to alcohol and heroin, they usually rate nicotine as more highly addictive. It goes straight to the pleasure circuit of the brain and very quickly changes the mood.

"Lots of people who could give up easily have done so, so we're ending up with more and more hard core smokers, who are very addicted. The danger is that warnings become invisible," he said.

Julia Kilminster-Biggs, co-ordinator of Bournemouth and Poole Primary Care Trust's Stop Smoking team and an ex-smoker herself, is in favour of the new pictures. "I think anything that keeps the message alive is a great idea," she said.

"It's not about browbeating people, it's about making them stop and think. Seeing a picture of cancer may make them think even more.

"People still have the right to smoke. What we're doing is making it easier for them to give up. Seventy per cent of smokers don't want to smoke. This is just to give them an extra nudge."

Corfe Mullen GP Dr Chris McCall said he did not think putting the pictures on packets would make much difference. "The one thing that does seem to have had an effect is the smoking ban. In this country, the health message has been so prominent and so strong for so long, the pictures will have to be very dramatic to have a significant impact."

Consultant Dr Timothy Shaw, a chest physician at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, sees many patients who have smoking-related chest diseases, including lung cancer, and says most regret ever taking up the habit.

"When you're young, you think you're invincible, but nicotine is an unbelievably powerful, addictive drug. I would support anything that's going to improve people's ability to quit smoking and improve their knowledge of the dangers.

"Sometimes shock tactics work. If your doctor tells you to stop smoking, it has more of an effect than an ad."