Considering that most smokers pick up the nasty habit during their impressionable adolescent years, it makes sense to put off exposing the tykes to the temptation until they're old enough to poison themselves. Riding that puff of thought, the State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines wrote an open letter earlier this month to film makers this week asking them to refrain from including smoking scenes in G, PG, and PG-13 rated movies.
The (Health) Commish also cited a couple of studies showing that such smoking scenes are the most influential force motivating kids to start puffing in the first place. And with cigarette use being the leading preventable cause of death in New York City, about 390,000 of the City's 4.5 million kids will die from it.
Several leading health organizations offer the following advice:
- Rate new smoking movies "R," unless tobacco use in the film clearly reflects its dangers and consequences or is necessary to represent the smoking of a real historical figure.
- Certify no pay-offs by stating in the films' closing credits that no production member received anything of value from anyone in exchange for tobacco depictions.
- Require proven, effective anti-smoking ads to run before any film with tobacco presence, regardless of its MPAA rating.
- Stop identifying tobacco brands and eliminate brand imagery from the background of any movie scene.
For more information, visit www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu.
