Handsel Art

Date: 7 February 2008

For Immediate Release

Contact: J.R. Few at

(870) 427-1365 or email

Public Health Symposium

Representatives from Marion and Baxter County tobacco prevention groups joined advocates from around the state in a community symposium presented by the KICK (Keeping Illegal Cigarettes from Kids) Coalition in Little Rock on February 6. Speakers included Onjewel Smith from the Echo Hollow Group in Mississippi speaking on expanding coalitions, Laura McDowell from the Arkansas Department of Education on Coordinated School Health, Jimmy Parks from The Burn Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital on Cigarettes and Fire Safety, and Dr. Gary Wheeler from Arkansas Children’s Hospital on the influence of smoking in film and the Smokefree Movies Action Network.

In 1998 tobacco companies agreed in the MSA to no longer contract with film studios to require smoking or brand placement in movies. Yet since that time smoking in movies has actually increased and increased most in G, PG, and PG-13 films.

A Dartmouth study published in 2004 in the British journal Lancet tracked youth attitudes and what films they had seen over a period of years. Alarmingly, children of nonsmoking parents were most likely to try tobacco because of exposure to films. Dr. Wheeler noted,”Kids who had seen the most smoking scenes were more likely to start smoking independent of all other risk factors.” The study concluded that as many as 390,000 kids were enticed into nicotine addiction by smoking in films annually. Even having villains smoking prompted tobacco use; the anti-hero is often the character with whom at risk youth identify.

Tobacco-Free Marion County film critic and youth liaison Sophia Wise shares, “It’s confusing for young people to see tobacco use in DVDs. Role models in movies influence behavior and society in ways we don’t even realize at the time.”

While much successful activism with the film industry was outlined, Dr Wheeler encouraged that parental involvement in film viewing is the first line of defense for the misconception that tobacco use is in any way desirable.

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