Updated:

The number of adult smokers is dropping but more teenagers are picking up the habit, according to surveys.

The rate of 15-year-old smokers increased by four per cent between 2002 and 2006 to reach 42.8 percent according to the EU health school survey.

The number of adult smokers declined from 23.3 percent in 2002 to 20.3 percent in 2008.

Speaking during the local launching of the EU's Help Campaign - For a Life Without Tobacco, Health Promotion Director Charmaine Gauci said that 103 men and 23 women died in 2007 as a result of lung cancer.

She said that through their habit, smokers also aggravated certain medical conditions such bronchitis, emphysema, heart attack and cardiac disease.

Parliamentary Secretary Joe Cassar said the time had come to prepare for the introduction of graphic pictures on tobacco packets to further underscore the health dangers of smoking.today.

Dr Cassar listed anti-smoking campaigns taken by Malta over the years, particularly the success of the ban on smoking in public spaces. He said that a smoke-free environment was a basic right, particularly since passive smoking was also detrimental to people's health.

Dr Cassar said that education campaigns by the health department had been fundamental to discourage people from smoking, and it was now time to prepare to print graphic colour pictures of the consequences of smoking on tobacco packets as part of a wider information campaign.