New York City officials are hoping that graphic images on matchbooks will encourage local smokers to quit, the New York Times reported Sept. 22.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene unveiled the matchbooks -- complete with photographs of diseased lungs, rotting teeth and gums, and growing tumors -- as the latest installment of its "Eating You Alive" antismoking campaign this week.

Retailers in the South Bronx, northern and central Brooklyn, and East and Central Harlem -- parts of the city where smoking rates have remained fairly steady -- have been asked to distribute the free matchbooks to smokers.

Taking a cue from countries such as Australia, Brazil and Canada, city officials are using the matchbooks to supplement the text-only warnings on cigarette packs. Graphic warnings are not required on cigarette packs sold in the U.S.

"Many countries put these images right on the cigarette pack, where they belong," said Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of New York City health department. "We are putting these images where New Yorkers buy cigarettes, just before they light up, in the hope they'll think twice about the decision to continue smoking."