Criticised for glamorising smoking

Dobson 'Disgusted' by Models who Glamorise Smoking

His comments follow a warning from the Health Education Authority, (HEA), which said the glossy magazine trend of showing models with cigarettes was "undermining years of health warnings" to young people.

Mr Dobson said role models like Claudia Schiffer, who have been pictured with cigarettes even though they do not smoke, were giving the wrong message to youngsters.

Loaded: full of smoking images

"I am particularly aware that some of the girls' role models are only smoking when they are on the catwalk. I think that is just disgusting," said Mr Dobson. "They are not doing it with consenting adults in private but are only doing it in public and I think that is really is awful."

Miss Schiffer's agent in America confirmed she did not smoke despite being pictured with a cigarette on the catwalk. Models who smoke include Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Iris Palmer.

Mr Dobson has pledged to ban tobacco advertising but said further measure were needed.

"We need much more publicity and effort to stop young people starting smoking," he insisted. "We have got to counter tobacco advertising which is actually designed to grip the attention and convince the children concerned."

The HEA survey identified 21 images of smoking and cigarettes in the men's lifestyle Loaded, and 22 in the style magazine The Face over a three-month period.

The survey, which included interviews with young people, highlighted a general acknowledgment that glossy photographs of models were influential. Young people associated images of smoking with "positive characteristics" such as power, individuality and self-assertiveness.

Commenting on the findings, Donald Reid, chief executive of the Association for Public Health, said: "Since the tobacco industry in the US is known to have paid Sylvester Stallone half a million US dollars to smoke in films, how can we be sure that British fashion magazine editors are not also being paid to publish glamourous images of smoking?"