SOCIETY
Films showing smoking scenes should be rated to protect children from tobacco addiction, WHO says
Baku, February 1, AZERTAC
The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on governments to rate movies that portray tobacco use in a bid to prevent children and adolescents from starting to smoke cigarettes and use other forms of tobacco. Movies showing use of tobacco products have enticed millions of young people worldwide to start smoking, according to the new WHO "Smoke-free movies: from evidence to action", the third edition since its launch in 2009, WHO said on its website.
“With ever tighter restrictions on tobacco advertising, film remains one of the last channels exposing millions of adolescents to smoking imagery without restrictions,” says Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO’s Director for the Department of Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases.
Taking concrete steps, including rating films with tobacco scenes and displaying tobacco warnings before films with tobacco, can stop children around the world from being introduced to tobacco products and subsequent tobacco-related addiction, disability and death.