The sale of pro-smoking stickers over the internet designed to cover Government health warnings on cigarette boxes were described by the chairman of the anti-smoking lobby group, ASH, as a "sick joke" yesterday.
The labels are offered on the internet for as little as three euro. They feature slogans such as "smoking is cool", "smoking makes you look big and clever", "you will get fat if you stop smoking" or "you've got to die of something" and "non-smokers may cause irritation".
Prof Luke Clancy, a consultant physician of respiratory diseases at St James's Hospital, Dublin, said it was an effort to undermine the law. "It may well be legal if it is internet-based. I hope people see it as another effort to dupe them," he said