A plan to put warnings onto individual cigarettes will be announced in Parliament tomorrow, according to a new report.
Under current tobacco laws in the UK, cigarette packets and tobacco pouches must contain health warnings to customers.
Now, Conservative Lord George Young is set to introduce a private members bill which would take this one step further and ensure each individual cigarette has its own warning.
The warnings would include messages such as 'smoking kills' and 'you don't need me anymore', according to a report in The Mirror.
Advert
If passed, the new rules would include fines for tobacco companies that failed to include the warnings.
Lord Young told the newspaper: "This is cost-free, popular and more effective than health warnings on packets.
"The Government could respond positively and I would be delighted if it did."
Deborah Arnott of Action on Smoking and Health said: "Cigarettes kill smokers, not cigarette packs, so obviously they are where health warnings are most needed.
Advert
"All it needs is Government support for us to become the first country to put 'smoking kills' on the cigarette itself."
But not everyone has thrown their support behind the move, with Simon Clark from the smokers' campaign group Forest saying those who choose to smoke are already 'well aware of the health risks'.
The plans will be unveiled just days after a cross-party group of MPs called on the Government to raise the age at which people can buy tobacco products from 18 to 21.
The All Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health has said that the legal age should be raised, in order to crack down on children and young people smoking - and to aid those who currently smoke in their attempts to quit.
Advert
The group also said tobacco companies should stump up the bill to cover the costs of any proposed changes.
Bob Blackman, the head of the group, said: "Our report sets out measures which will put us on track to achieve the government's ambition to end smoking by 2030, but they can't be delivered without funding.
"Tobacco manufacturers make extreme profits selling highly addictive, lethal products, while government coffers are bare because of Covid-19.
"The manufacturers have the money, they should be made to pay to end the epidemic."
Featured Image Credit: University of Stirling