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Chinese tobacco control expert calls for smoking ban in TV, film 

A Chinese tobacco-control expert has called for screens to be free of smoking scenes so as to better protect viewers, particularly the minors.

Currently, both home-made and imported TV series and films contain smoking scenes, which had a negative impact on viewers, especially minors as they tend to follow and mirror others, Xu Guihua, deputy director of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control(CATC) was quoted by Thursday's China Daily as saying.

Study shows that young people aged between 13 to 18, who often see smoking scenes in movies and TVs, are 16 times more likely to become smokers than their counterparts.

Among 144 box-office hit movies from 2004 to 2009, of which 66 were imported, about 69 percent contain tobacco-related scenes such as people smoking a cigarette or cigar, with ash tray or lighters in the background, a study jointly launched by CATC and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found.

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