Puffing away that PG rating
The Motion Picture Association of America announced that it will consider smoking when assigning movie ratings in response to increased pressure from anti-smoking groups. A movie’s rating will depend on the extent of smoking behavior, how it is portrayed, and whether it is a historically accurate representation. In addition, descriptions of tobacco use will be added to the advisories that appear next to a movie’s rating. To read more, click here. The new guidelines are substantially less restrictive than those advocated by several public health organizations, which all support a mandatory R rating for all movies that include smoking. To view each organization’s response to the new guidelines, click on the organization name: the American Legacy Foundation (ALF), the American Lung Association (ALA), the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids the American Medical Association and the Lung Cancer Alliance.

Anti-smoking group pulls a win and a draw
Philip Morris USA will discontinue its “Talk. They’ll Listen.” advertisements on television and radio.  This decision comes several months after a study published in the American Journal of Public Health reported no association between anti-smoking prevention efforts sponsored by the tobacco industry and smoking behavior in American youth.To read more, click here.

600 Ontario youth call on government to take action on spit tobacco industry products
Six hundred participants at the Take Action: 2nd Annual Smoke-free Ontario Youth Summit will sign a petition asking the provincial government to stop selling spit tobacco products by January 1st, 2009. They are focusing on spit tobacco because the tobacco industry is stepping up its marketing of these products to younger audiences. To read more about the summit, click here.

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Research

Cigarette marketing practices in retail stores associated with teen smoking habits
A recent study suggests that tobacco display advertising in retail stores is associated with teen smoking behavior. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago analyzed over 26,000 surveys of eighth-, tenth- and twelfth-grade students to determine the level of smoking uptake. Researchers also visited tobacco retail establishments in 966 communities to assess the types and frequency of tobacco advertisements, the availability of promotions and the price of a pack of cigarettes. Study data suggest that advertising increases the likelihood of smoking initiation, price influenced current smoking for most levels of uptake, and the availability of promotions increased the probability of an experimenting youth smoker becoming a regular smoker. Click here for the full article. Click here to view the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids response by President Matthew L. Myers.

Exposure to secondhand smoke among students aged 13–15 years — worldwide, 2000–2007 (MMWR)
Findings from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in 137 countries during 2000 to 2007 reveal that half of students aged 13-15 years who have never smoked reported being exposed to secondhand smoke at home (47 percent) or in places other than the home (48 percent). The analysis also found that students who were exposed to secondhand smoke were more likely to begin smoking. Click here to read more.

U.S. kids have watched stars smoking billions of times
Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School estimated that adolescents in the United States viewed in total 13.9 billion images of smoking in movies released between 1998 and 2003. Five hundred thirty-four top movies were analyzed for the number of smoking incidents and then 6,500 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14 were polled to determine the number of teens who were exposed to these movies. Smoking appeared in 74% of the movies, and it was estimated that each teen was exposed to an average of 665 instances of smoking. To read more about the study published in Pediatrics, click here and here to read the American Legacy Foundation response.

Smoking in Hollywood movies strongly linked to increase in global youth smoking
Two recent research studies have demonstrated a link between exposure to movie smoking and youth smoking behavior, controlling for other factors related to smoking initiation, in Germany and Mexico. The study in Germany found that teens exposed to the most smoking in movies were more than twice as likely to have experimented with smoking than those who saw the least amount. The study in Mexico also demonstrated that exposure to movie smoking was strongly correlated with youth smoking initiation. These results corroborate similar findings from a recent study of American youth, published in Pediatrics. Click here to read more.

Glamorous media images of smokers linked to teen smoking
A recent study examined the association between high school students’ normative beliefs about smoking and their likelihood of smoking currently or in the future. Researchers used a cross-sectional survey design and gathered data from 1,138 students in the Philadelphia area. Primary research findings include that teenagers overestimated the percentage of people who smoke in the United States, nearly doubling the real percentages for the total population and for high school seniors. Approximately one-quarter of students also believed that wealthy people smoke more than poor people, while perceived popularity of smoking among the elite was associated with both current smoking and susceptibility to smoking in the future. Finally, teens who believed that their parents disapprove of smoking were less likely to smoke, and this association was more robust for teens who believed their parents strongly disapproved of smoking. To read more, click here.

Association between ADHD and smoking in adolescence: Shared genetic, environmental and psychopathological factors
A study assessed the co-occurrence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and smoking in 305 15-year olds, and commonalities in the genetic, environmental and psychopathological factors of both conditions. Study data reveal that adolescents with an ADHD diagnosis reported significantly more smoking behavior than non-ADHD controls. Researchers suggest that this association could primarily be explained by deviant peer affiliations and co-morbidity with other behavioral disorders, and to a lesser extent by characteristics of a dopamine receptor in males but not females. Combined, the results suggest that the association between ADHD and smoking rests on shared risk factors. To view the study abstract published in the Journal of Neural Transmission, click here.

The economic fruits of smoke free schools
As the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board (in Winston-Salem, N.C.) considers whether to implement a district wide smoking ban, Doctor John Spangler reviews the economic costs of allowing smoking on campus. These include over 43,000 hours in sick days, over 94,000 hours for smoke breaks, an increased likelihood that youth will initiate smoking because they are cognizant that teachers smoke, and increased exposure for students and employees to secondhand smoke. Click here to read more.

Decreasing trend in Washington state high school smoking has stalled
Cigarette smoking among youth in Washington has declined dramatically – 50 percent – since Washington State expanded its Tobacco Program activities in 1999. However, the recently released Healthy Youth Survey revealed that while cigarette smoking among middle school youth (sixth and eighth grades) continues to decline, the decreasing trend among high school youth has stalled. In 2006, cigarette smoking increased among tenth graders and remained the same among twelfth graders. Results from the survey also showed high school youth are using more alternative tobacco products such as cigars, pipe tobacco, and bidis (flavored cigarettes). The Healthy Youth Survey, the state’s school-based health-risk and behavior survey, was completed in the fall of 2006 by almost 200,000 students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 from more than 1,000 schools in all Washington counties. For more information, contact Susan Richardson at 360-236-3745 or sue.richardson@doh.wa.gov.

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Resources

Presentations to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) on smoking in the movies
The Harvard School of Public Health has made four documents available to the public that were used in conversations with the MPAA in 1999 and 2006. One is a brief introduction to the topic of smoking in the movies and youth smoking behavior, one addresses the health effects of smoking, one describes the role of films in influencing youth behavior, and the last document examines the issues of directorial and academic freedom. To view the documents, click here.

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