WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- After decades of decline, smoking in U.S. movies increased in the early 1990s and by 2002, was back to levels last seen in 1950, say public health experts.
"This news is a wake-up call to public health officials and other leaders," said American Legacy Foundation President Dr. Cheryl Healton. "We have seen a downward 'ratings creep,' in which studios are shifting depictions of smoking into teen-rated films, and research continues to prove the link between young people seeing smoking in movies and starting to smoke."
Teen-rated films are those movies earning G, PG and PG-13 ratings, according to Heaton.
Researchers at the American Legacy Foundation and Dartmouth Medical School found that despite a significant decline in the number of tobacco depictions in R-rated movies, no such decline was observed within youth-rated movies during the same nine-year period.
Researchers reviewed 900 movies, including the top-100 highest-grossing movies per year from 1996 through 2004. Data gathered from these films show that tobacco is depicted in more than 70 percent of youth-rated films and nearly 90 percent of R-rated movies.
