Cigarette packages to show graphic photos

LONDON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Health officials say cigarette packages sold in Britain will soon carry photos of throat cancer, rotting teeth and a corpse in a morgue.

The new packages are to be introduced next month to illustrate the health risks of smoking, the federal Department of Health announced Friday.

The graphic photos replace previous written warnings introduced in 2003, although the messages "Smoking kills" will continue to appear on the front of packages, The Independent reported Saturday.

Smoking, the leading cause of death in England, causes the premature death of more than 87,000 Britons each year, the British newspaper reported, noting Forest, a smokers' lobby group, has criticized the new warnings as "unnecessarily intrusive" and "gratuitously offensive."