Between 500 and 600 people have so far signed up to support a lawsuit accusing the tobacco industry of grievous bodily harm, the Telegraaf says on Monday.

A Dutch lawyer and a lung cancer patient are planning to take tobacco companies to court for producing cigarettes designed to turn people into addicts as quickly as possible and appealed in April for supporters.

Lawyer Benedicte Ficq and cancer victim Anne Marie van Veen are putting together a criminal case against cigarette producers, arguing that out of court settlements do not go far enough.

‘I want to see tobacco firms prosecuted for deliberately damaging people’s health,’ Ficq told television programme RTL Late Night in April.

Ficq and Veen argue that tobacco firms cannot hide behind the freedom of choice of people to smoke because they are deliberately influencing smokers’ behaviour by adding addictive chemicals such as nicotine to cigarettes.