NON-smokers in the region are being urged to speak out about the dangers of inhaling second-hand smoke.

The message from the North East Against Tobacco (Neat) health alliance is in a new television advert being broadcast in the Tyne Tees region.

The 30-second advert, filmed and produced locally, tells non-smokers that they "don't have to breathe other people's smoke".

The target audience is non-smokers, which make up 70 per cent of the North-East population but have little choice of smoke-free venues, especially when it comes to restaurants and pubs.

The advert features actor Robson Green's nephew Damon Britton and was filmed on location in Newcastle.

It takes a humorous look at how people would react if others were spraying hazardous chemicals around them - essentially what is happening when we breathe other people's cigarette smoke.

Elaine Wilson, campaigns manager for the Tyne and Wear Health Action Zone said: "We're trying to get non- smokers to feel a little bit braver about asking for a smoke free environment. At the moment many of us feel uneasy about asking for smoke free areas or for people not to smoke around us as we often feel we're being unreasonable. We need to remember it's not the smoker we're objecting to - just the smoke."

While welcoming the decision of the MetroCentre management to go smoke-free this week, Ms Wilson said: "There is still a long way to go."