A KEY anti-smoking group has called for bigger warnings on cigarette packets, after finding nearly half of smokers do not know their habit causes lung cancer.

The research from the Cancer Council of Victoria showed 21.5 per cent of the state's smokers think the dangers of smoking are exaggerated and 49 per cent do not identify lung cancer as a smoking-caused illness.

Almost two thirds of those surveyed did not spontaneously identify smoking as a cause of emphysema, heart disease or heart attack.The Quit anti-smoking group wants the federal government to force cigarette companies to display larger warnings on packets.

Currently cigarette packets in Australia must have 30 per cent of the front of the pack dedicated to health warnings and 90 per cent of the back.Quit policy manager Kylie Lindorff said it wanted 90 per cent of the front of the pack to be dedicated to anti-smoking messages.

"We would also like plain packaging, so the companies can't use the pack as a mini-billboard to reassure smokers that smoking isn't as bad as they think it is."She said some smokers were reassured by words such as "fresh" put on packets.The industry are constantly trying to play down or disguise the serious health affects," she said.The information released on Monday came from a survey of 3000 Victorian smokers taken in November 2007.