Cigarette packets to show diseased lungs

SMOKERS will be treated to graphic images of the damage their habit is causing to themselves and others in the New Year.

The 42 gruesome pictures to appear on cigarette packs is the latest in a series of measures to reduce smoking in the EU. The habit kills more than half a million people and costs health services about €100 billion a year.

Ireland will be among the first countries to use the new images.