In the News: Pic Smoke Chokes

LETTER: Pic Smoke Chokes

by Mark Bisgeier
Variety
January 28, 2003

To the Editor:

Contrary to Larry Deutchman's contention (Letter to the Editor, Jan. 7), on-screen smoking does kill people.

According to a recently published Dartmouth Medical School study, there is a "strong, direct and independent association" between exposure to tobacco use in films and adolescent experimentation with smoking. And teenage smoking is where it starts; by the time a smoker turns 25, he or she is an addict.

The growing efforts of the film industry community to take a stand on eliminating tobacco use in kid-friendly films should be encouraged. What other behavior kills 450,000-plus Americans every year but is acceptable even in G-rated films?

This is not a censorship or free speech issue; we're not talking about government action but about our own responsibility for what kids see.

We all remember the tobacco company CEOs testifying before Congress -- and lying about cigarettes being addictive. I'd hate to think that we're their unwitting partners.

Films depicting tobacco use should be rated R (with exceptions, as with the current ratings rules for language). It would be the right thing to do, it would save lives, and it wouldn't cost the industry a cent -- tobacco product placement is already illegal, and no film was ever a hit because a star was smoking.

By the way, why did Mr. Deutchman invoke Joe McCarthy? Talk about a smokescreen!