Doctors fired up on 'glamour' of smoking

Published on Sunday 6 July 2008 21:57

KEIRA Knightley in Atonement; Bruce Willis in Die Hard; Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction – all three have used smoking to great effect, creating enduring images of stars lighting up.

But now, in an attempt to de-glamorise tobacco, the British Medical Association (BMA) has called for the portrayal of smoking to be taken into account when classifying films.

The BMA, which is holding its annual conference in Edinburgh this week, also wants anti-smoking adverts to appear before television programmes which show people lighting up.

Images ranging from chain-smoking young people in Channel 4's Skins to Dot Cotton lighting up in EastEnders can all contribute to making cigarettes seem acceptable, several international studies suggest.

A new report by the BMA – Forever Cool: the Influence of Smoking Imagery on Young People – said that most smokers started before the age of 18, with virtually all taking up the habit before 25.

What is of particular concern to doctors is how images in the media can help make smoking seem normal and attractive to young people.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said cigarettes were made to appear a symbol of success.

She pointed to Independence Day, where Will Smith lights a cigar after killing aliens, and said that when films showed smoking in such a way, the British Board of Film Classification should raise the certificate.

"Where a film might be a 12 certificate, if it includes positive images of smoking then that should nudge the certificate up," she said.

Magazines also needed to consider the images of smoking they used. Dr Nathanson said rather than using pictures of Kate Moss or Amy Winehouse having a cigarette, photos of them not smoking should be used.

The BMA said that, along with other measures to reduce smoking, such as a ban on vending machines – proposed by the Scottish Government – the aim should be to make the UK tobacco-free by 2035.

But a spokesman for pro-choice smoking campaign group Forest said assessing the content of films was an act of censorship, and thus something that should bother everyone, including non-smokers.

Such a move would lead to films such as 101 Dalmatians – in which the villainous Cruella de Vil smokes throughout – receiving an 18 certificate, he said. "What kind of country has an 18 certificate on 101 Dalmatians? It's completely insane."

But health campaigners welcomed the BMA's call.

Professor Gerard Hastings, of Cancer Research UK, said: "Ultimately (young people] will only be truly protected when tobacco promotion and marketing in all its forms ceases to exist."

Shona Robison, Scotland's public health minister, welcomed the BMA's report.

"Like clinicians, the Scottish Government recognises that smoking is one of the main causes of preventable ill-health."

Stubbing out cigarettes remains an uphill battle

• IMAGES of smoking in films fell between 1950 and 1990, then began to rise, research suggests.

• In 2006, 22 per cent of people over the age of 16 smoked, government figures show.

• Among 16- to 19-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales, 20 per cent smoked. The figure was 31 per cent among those aged 20 to 24.

• One in 20 of eight- to 15-year-olds questioned in Scotland in 2003 had smoked in the previous week. This varied from 2 per cent for those aged 12 to 29 per cent for those aged 15.

• Smoking is linked to deprivation. In 2006, 17 per cent of people in non-manual jobs smoked, but this figure was 28 per cent in manual jobs.

• Two-thirds of regular smokers aged 12 to 15 buy their cigarettes from a tobacconist, newsagent or sweetshop.

• Between 1970 and 2000, British men experienced the most rapid decrease in death rates from tobacco in the world as a result of smokers quitting. Surveys have shown that more than two-thirds of British smokers would like to stop.

• According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in the EU in 2002, 80,000 people are estimated to have died from conditions related to second-hand tobacco smoke.

• Europe's biggest smokers are men in the Russian Federation. According to the WHO, 65.9 per cent of them smoke daily, compared with a European average of 40 per cent.

• Though smoking was linked with cancer during the 1950s, it took until 1962 until the Royal College of Physicians recommended stricter laws on sales and advertising.