Sporty Spice Mel C has helped launch a new campaign for two cancer charities to stop children taking up smoking.
Experts say around 450 young people in the UK, even nine year olds, start smoking every day.
'Not cool'
As well as being anti-social, Sporty explained how smoking can damage health: "As far as I'm concerned, it's like playing Russian Roulette with your life."
Professor Gordon McVie from the Cancer Research Campaign,
said: "It's great to have the support of Mel C who is idolised by thousands of young girls."
He added, "Smoking among teenage girls is rife and we need help to drum the message home that it is not fun, not cool, and not glamorous."
Ashtray art
Mel is also asking smokers to hand in their clean ashtrays so they can be recycled and made into a sculpture as part of the Cancer Research Campaign and Imperial Cancer Research Fund campaign.
The work of art will be unveiled on No Smoking Day, 13 March.
And if you have a friend, parent or guardian who wants to stop smoking, you can ask them to hand in their ashtrays to:
Ashtray Amnesty
61 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London
WC2A 3PX
They should include their name, address, phone number, and details of how long they smoked and why they gave up.
