August 27, 2011
See the ad at http://www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/ourads/ad_sfm80.htm
Smoke Free Movies has launched a series of print advertisements in Variety and other publications. This advertisement first ran in the August 23, 2011 edition of Variety and September 2, 2011 edition of The Hollywood Reporter.
If smoking is essential to your film, stand up and take the R-rating.
Producers of comic book movies seem to think flying saucers and cigarettes go together. Other producers appear to be convinced that any melodrama set before 2005 is a solemn opportunity to show people chain smoking.
Do you believe either one of these things? Then stand up for what you believe. Take the R-rating.
April 19, 2011
April 18, 2011
I have been a skeptic about the value of minimum purchase laws as strategy for reducing youth smoking, but a study we just published from England showed that increasing the minimum purchase age from 16 to 18 was associated with a drop in smoking among 11-15 year olds, even after taking into account the existing downward trend. The effects were similar across socio-economic groups. We did not have the data to evaluate whether these effects persisted as kids got older (i.e., Did the law prevent initiation or just delay it?). It will take a few years to answer that question because we have to wait for the kids to get older. In any event, raising the minimum age to 18 was a good thing.
March 23, 2011
March 19, 2011
The FDA Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee released its long-awaited menthol report yesterday, March 19, 2011. The overall conclusions and recommendations in the report are on page 208 of the PDF. There are two major scientific findings, repeated below (broken out into individual statements, but direct quotes, and one recommendation: "Removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States." The TPSAC reached this conclusion based on two more detailed important conclusions:
1. "Menthol cannot be considered merely a flavoring additive to tobacco. Its pharmacological actions reduce the harshness of smoke and the irritation from nicotine, and may increase the likelihood of nicotine addiction in adolescents and young adults who experiment with smoking."