Sydney, June 25 (Reuters): Australian smokers will soon have to look at the picture of a cancer-ridden lung or a gangrenous foot missing toes each time they light up.

Following a trend pioneered by Canada, the government said it wants cigarette companies to put graphic pictures and warnings on 30 per cent of the front of each pack and 90 per cent of the back.

One photo has a colour cross-section of a diseased lung. Another shows a blackened foot missing a toe and the rest twisted. “Smoking causes peripheral vascular disease,” it reads. A third shows a dissected, bloodied brain with the caption, “Smoking doubles your risk of stroke.”

“The experience in Canada showed there was a 3 per cent drop in smoking,” Trish Worth, parliamentary secretary for health, said. Canada introduced warnings and pictures of diseased organs in late 2000. Health minister Tony Abbott said cigarette companies would have 18 months to make the changes once the government announces them.

Anti-smoking groups denounced the government for “caving in” to the tobacco lobby and mandating only 30 per cent of the packet’s fronts for photos, instead of 50 per cent as in Canada.

But cigarette makers say the move will not alter smoking patterns. Manufacturers said the move was detrimental. “The use of medically pornographic images,” had little impact on Canadian smoking levels, said Peter Richards, managing director of Imperial Tobacco Australia Ltd.