CIGARETTE smokers make the choice to take nicotine, tar and a myraid of other noxious chemicals into their bodies each time they light up.

But today they have been told that it is not just their health and the health of those close to them that they are affecting -- especially if they buy "knocked off fags" from a man in the pub.

Trading Standards officials have revealed that East Lancashire is being 'flooded' with counterfeit cigarettes.

They contain up to 75per cent more tar and 28per cent more nicotine than regular cigarettes

In the last fortnight alone, three dealers in fake cigarettes have been dealt with by the courts.

But significantly, many of them are manufactured in unhygienic conditions in the Far East, using child labour.

Experts believe that more than 100billion counterfeit cigarettes are produced each year in remote villages in China.

Counterfeit cigarettes cost the UK Treasury in excess of £2billion in lost revenue last year.

But no cigarette smoker will lose sleep over that.

But they should worry about the effects their habit is having on young children every time they spark up a cheap ciggy.

They should give up for this reason alone, even if they can't give up dodgy fags for the benefit of their own health.