SMOKING can cause blindness, and thanks to the efforts of a top Bolton doctor this warning will soon be on cigarette packets in the UK.

The announcement coincides with National No Smoking Day.

Simon Kelly, a consultant ophthalmologist at the Royal Bolton Hospital, has campaigned tirelessly for the link between smoking and blindness to be clearly labelled on tobacco products.

The European Commission agreed on Thursday that the link should be added to the list of warnings regarding tobacco.

Mr Kelly said: “I think the UK could be one of the leading European countries on this.

“It is good for Britain and it is good for Bolton, because it has come out of Bolton.”

Mr Kelly carried out research in Bolton and has been working with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

In 2007, he met the then Prime Minister Tony Blair to raise the issue, and in 2008 he spoke at an international conference in Belgium, where he addressed experts from across Europe about the links between smoking and age-related macular degeneration — the commonest cause of blindness in Europe.

Mr Kelly is now appealing for people to quit smoking, and says it is never too late to stop as the health benefits start almost immediately.

He said: “About 50,000 people in the UK have suffered sight loss from smoking. It doubles your risk of losing your sight.

“Tobacco contains chemicals that damage the blood vessels around the eye and increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration.”

Steve Winyard, RNIB head of campaigns, said: “We hope by including this health warning on tobacco packets it will hammer home the message that smoking can cause blindness.

“People who smoke not only double the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, they also tend to develop it earlier than non-smokers do.”

About 10 million UK adults smoke, but about two-thirds say they want to give up.

In the UK, about 100,000 people die every year of smokingrelated illnesses.