New Research Reiterates Effect of Smoking in Movies on Youth in the U.S. and Abroad Two studies published in the January edition of Pediatrics add to the growing body of research on the negative effect of smoking on young people starting to smoke. The first study concluded that younger kids (aged 9-12) are influenced to smoke in later years by their exposure to movie smoking in PG and PG-13 films. For the first time, researchers were able to prove that early exposure to smoking in movies, in addition to exposure later in life, influences smoking risk. The second study examined the effect of smoking in internationally distributed U.S. movies and shows that increased exposure to movie smoking was associated with a greater likelihood of trying smoking among German adolescents. Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School said the studies seem to be a very important piece of evidence supporting the R-rating for smoking, which can reduce the number of youth who smoke due to movies by about half. The two studies: Longitudinal Study of Viewing Smoking in Movies and Initiation of Smoking by Children¹ and Exposure to Smoking in Internationally Distributed American Movies and Youth Smoking in Germany: A Cross-cultural Cohort Study² were published in the January edition of Pediatrics: the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. To read more about the two studies, go to www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/121/1/15 and www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/121/1/e108. ¹Longitudinal Study of Viewing Smoking in Movies and Initiation of Smoking by Children Linda Titus-Ernstoff, Madeline A. Dalton, Anna M. Adachi-Mejia, Meghan R. Longacre and Michael L. Beach Pediatrics 2008; 121; 15-21 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2007-0051 ²Exposure to Smoking in Internationally Distributed American Movies and Youth Smoking in Germany: A Cross-cultural Cohort Study Reiner Hanewinkel and James D. Sargent Pediatrics 2008; 121; e108-e117 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2007-1201