Smoking scenes in youth-oriented Hollywood movies have doubled between 2010 and 2012, says a report.
Last year the US Surgeon General warned that youngster may start smoking after watching smoking in the movies
The study revealed that in 2012, half of the youth-rate movies gave an estimated 14.8 billion 'tobacco impressions' to audiences. This is an increase of 169 percent from the lowest in 2010. Tobacco impressions are depictions of tobacco use multiplied by the number of tickets sold per movie.
At present, around 800,000 smokers in the country are between the ages 12 and 17. Out of them 250,000 may suffer and die from tobacco-related diseases. They will also incur $18 billion medical costs by the age of 50, the report claimed.
President and CEO of Legacy, a nonprofit, anti-smoking foundation based in Washington DC, Cheryl Healton, explained that movies prove to be more powerful than the regular tobacco commercials. "We know that the more smoking that youth see in movies, the more likely they are to smoke. This explosion in on-screen smoking puts hundreds of thousands of young Americans at risk of addiction, disease and premature death."
In 2010, three major film studios removed all smoking scenes in their youth-rated movies, said the study. However, in 2012, Time Warner's Warner Bros. had most number of smoking images. This was followed by Sony and News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox.
Among the film studios which showed least smoking scenes in 2012, were Viacom (Paramount), Disney and Comcast (Universal).
"Increases in smoking imagery in the movies are discouraging," Dr Tom Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in the news release. He stressed on the importance of reducing smoking and tobacco use in youth-oriented movies. He said it will help save lives, money, and years of suffering tobacco-related diseases.
The CDC director maintained that on-screen smoking motivates youngsters to smoke. Researchers note that 37 percent of new smokers took up the habit after watching smoking scenes in movies.
