SceneSmoking.org Sharing 10-Year Database on Tobacco Use in Movies

SceneSmoking.org Sharing 10-Year Database on Tobacco Use in Movies International Health Journal Tobacco Control Publishes Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! Research SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- A database of the hard numbers behind Hollywood's hard-to-understand devotion to tobacco during the past decade -- numbers that back a report in the latest edition of the international health journal Tobacco Control -- are now available online at www.SceneSmoking.org, a Web site launched today (Dec. 13) loaded with information about the dangers of tobacco use on and off movie screens. Compiled during the past 10 years, the database condenses information from nearly 500 movies reviewed specifically for how they portray tobacco use. The American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails (ALASET) hosts www.SceneSmoking.org and is a major contributor to the report. Based on the database, the report is appearing as a condensed version in Tobacco Control, an international scientific journal launched in 1992 to consider all aspects of tobacco prevention and control. The report, titled "Tobacco Use in Movies During the Past Decade," relies on information gathered through Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! (TUTD), a program funded by the California Tobacco Tax Health Protection Act of 1988 and overseen by ALASET. The research is part of a wider effort that is using information to inspire policy change -- for example, persuading the Motion Picture Association of America to give "R" ratings to movies depicting tobacco use. TUTD reviewers, many of them youth volunteers, built the database by analyzing 497 top movies released between 1991 and 2001. The report submitted to Tobacco Control summarizes their findings and draws a number of conclusions, among them: -- A marked upturn in the number of leading actors lighting up in movies. Many teens mimic the behavior of stars. -- Seventy-five percent of films reviewed contained some tobacco use. Tobacco use in sampled films actually decreased, but at a modest rate. Reviews continued after 2001 indicate that the rate of smoking in movies is edging back up. Besides ALASET, other co-authors of the report are: University of California at Los Angeles, UCLA School of Public Health, Health and Media Research Group; Hollywood Health and Society, University of Southern California, Norman Lear Center; and UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine. For more about ALASET, call 916-444-5864 or visit www.saclung.org. Source: SceneSmoking.com CONTACT: Gary Zavoral of SceneSmoking.com, +1-916-446-9900 Web site: http://www.saclung.org/ Web site: http://www.scenesmoking.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment