Smoking in movies linked to children lighting up

Smoking on screen has a serious influence on whether or not teenagers take up the habit, according to a new study in the Lancet, a medical journal.

The study observed 2,600 children aged between 10 and 14 who had never smoked when they joined the test and found that those who watched movies with a lot of smoking were as much as three times more likely to smoke themselves.

Researchers asked the children to say which of a sample of 50 box office hits they had seen and banded the results into groups of children depending on how intense their exposure to images of smoking had been.

Twenty-two of the children in the lowest exposure band took up smoking in the next two years, while 107 had done so in the highest band - five times as many. Having discounted other factors likely to influence children - such as whether someone in their family smoked - the statisticians put the difference at three times as many.

"This effect is stronger than the effect of traditional cigarette advertising and promotion, which accounts for 'only' 34% of new experimentation," said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California.

Professor Glantz called for films showing smoking to be given a US R rating, which compels cinemas to make sure that children under 17 are accompanied by an adult. For context, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was R-rated.

A spokesman for tobacco company Philip Morris said: "We think that producers of films should think very carefully about including depictions of smoking, especially in movies that are likely to be seen by kids."