Give 18 certificate to any film with a smoking scene, demand campaigners

FILMS that feature smoking should be given an automatic 18 rating to protect teenagers against taking up the habit, according to a new study.

• Uma Thurman smokes in Pulp Fiction; such a scene could one day make a much tamer film R18. Picture: Complimentary

The analysis of hundreds of films released in the past decade found that young Britons see more cigarette use in movies than their US counterparts because the UK censors judge more films to be family friendly.

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Researchers warn that the more smoking adolescents witness onscreen, the more their chances of taking up the habit increases, with those who see the most tobacco use about three times more likely to start smoking than those who watch the least.

The study, compiled by Dr Christopher Millett of Imperial College London and Professor Stanton Glantz of California University, advocated an overhaul of the ratings system.

"Awarding an 18 rating to films that contain smoking would create an economic incentive for motion picture producers to simply leave smoking out of films developed for the youth market," the study concluded.

The researchers assessed the number of onscreen smoking or tobacco occurrences in 572 top grossing films in the UK between 2001 and 2006, including 546 screened in the United States, plus 26 high-earning films released only in the UK.

They then divided the total box office earnings of each film by the year's average ticket price to calculate the estimated number of "tobacco impressions" delivered to audiences for each film.

Among the films assessed, over two thirds featured tobacco. Of these more than nine out of ten were classified as suitable for adolescents (15 or 12A) under the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) system.

The study, which will be published in Tobacco Control, found that in all, 5.07 billion tobacco impressions were delivered to UK cinema-going audiences during the period, of which 4.49 billion were delivered in 15 and 12A rated films.

Because 79 per cent of the films rated only for adults in the US (R) were classified as suitable for young people in the UK young Britons were exposed to 28 per cent more smoking impressions in 15 or 12A rated movies than their US peers.

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Dr Millett said: "The decision to classify a film as appropriate for youths clearly has economic benefits for the film industry.

"A film classification policy that keeps on-screen smoking out of films rated suitable for youths … would reduce this exposure for people under 18 years of age and probably lead to a substantial reduction in youth smoking."

However, Sue Clark, spokeswoman for the BBFC, said imposing an 18 rating on films which feature scenes of smoking is "not going to happen".

She said: "Sometimes smoking is included in a film for reasons of historical accuracy.The only time we would consider stepping in is if we felt a film was actively promoting smoking. But I have never seen a film that did that."