A LEADING Dorset heart specialist has backed calls for a new body to regulate the tobacco industry in the United Kingdom.

A report released this week by the Royal College of Physicians points out that tobacco and nicotine products kill 120,000 people a year - but are less controlled than food or drugs.

"The most dangerous product has the greatest market freedom while the safest are given the greatest degree of control," said Professor John Britton, chairman of the RCP's Tobacco Advisory Group.

"Smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco, is banned in Europe because it is dangerous but it is safer than smoking cigarettes which are widely available."

Professor Britton said a new regulatory body could give guidance on what was safe and effective, advise governments about new products, monitor the tobacco industry and tackle issues such as advertising.

Dr Andrew McLeod, a Poole Hospital consultant cardiologist and a council member of anti-smoking organisation ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), said: "It sounds like a good idea.

"ASH has pointed out for years that voluntary agreements on what tobacco companies can't do have been flouted widely. The tobacco firms find different methods of highlighting their products, particularly to young people."

An estimated 10 million people in the UK are hooked on nicotine, which is more addictive than heroin.

Tobacco is related to a fifth of all deaths in this country - a third of all cancer cases, a seventh of cadiovascular disease cases and most adult chronic lung disease. Tobacco companies in the UK achieve profits of around 40 per cent on turnover, after duty has been deducted.

In 2000-1, the government took £9,510 million in revenue from tobacco. The estimated cost to the NHS of treating smoking-related disease is £1.5 billion a year.