ASH Wales stops film industry from tearing a hole in smokefree law

The motion picture industry, working through the BBC, which has production facilities in Wales, has been pressing the government to create an exception for smoking on soundstages.  Under pressure mobilized by ASH Wales, the government just announced that the law would be left as it is. 

On May 16, ASH Wales reacted. saying, ""After a year-long campaign the Health Minister announced yesterday that, after reviewing the evidence, the Welsh Government would be abandoning its proposals to exempt the film and TV industry from the smoke-free legislation."

Wales was not the first time that the movie industry has worked to keep smoking on sound stages. 

In the United States, only North Carolina (headquarters for Reynolds American) gives media productions a blanket exemption from smokefree laws. The exemption was added to NC's hard-fought 2009 smokefree legislation at the eleventh hour, when Motion Picture Association of America VP Vans Stevenson told state newspapers that Hollywood would pull the plug in North Carolina unless movie smoking was exempted. 

Florida rejected such threats and blocked an exemption there. New York, ranked #2 in US film production, allows state officials to exempt productions on a case-by-case basis, but no stage or film producer has ever requested one. California, ranked #1, offers an exemption for theatrical productions; movie studios have never tested the language to see if it applies to them, say health experts.

Commonly, stage, TV and film productions use herbal products to double for tobacco products. Mad Men, produced in Los Angeles, stuffs herbal cigarettes into tobacco-brand packages. There are occasional press reports of actors complaining about smoking any product during the multiple takes required to film a scene. 

Policies designed to reduce kids' exposure to on-screen smoking refer to "tobacco imagery or reference." This covers any prop or action that is a representation of tobacco product or its use, along with tobacco branding and advertising collateral. It does not matter what the product is actually made of; curling smoke could even be added as a digital effect. Where post-production visual effects also get public subsidies, the taxpayer would be on the hook for that, too.

Anything that weakens smokefree standards or tightens tobacco's grip on entertainment is dangerous. Congratulations to ASH Wales for keeping the film industry from, once again, serving the tobacco industry's interests.

Health Minister's statement: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/health-minister-shelve-plans-exempt-3817565

ASH Wales' response: http://www.ashwales.org.uk/ash-wales-news/

Among other steps, ASH Wales mounted a petition on Change.org that reached at least 600 signatures: View the petition