smoking in movies cause teenagers to start smoking
Tobacco promotions and depictions of smoking in movies cause teenagers to start smoking, according to a sweeping report on tobacco in the media released on Thursday. The report by the National Cancer Institute found the tobacco industry spent more than $13 billion on smoking-related advertising and promotion in 2005. These efforts boosted overall tobacco use, contradicting industry claims that they are intended to build brand loyalty. "This is the first government report to present definitive conclusions that, number one, tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use in the population," said Ronald Davis, senior scientific editor of the report and past president of the American Medical Association. "And, number two, (it shows) that depictions of smoking in movies is causally related to youth smoking initiation," Davis told a news conference. Tobacco use remains the single-largest cause of preventable death in the US, accounting for...