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  Awards Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Ctr. Boston Medical Center Boston University Brigham and Women's Hospital Broad Institute Cambridge Health Alliance Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Ctr. Children's Hospital Boston Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Grants Harvard University Joslin Diabetes Center Lahey Clinic Mass. General Hospital Mass. Health Law McLean Hospital MIT New England Baptist Hospital Personnel Moves Public Health Research Short White Coat Tufts-New England Medical Center Tufts University UMass Memorial Medical Center University of Massachusetts VA Medical Centers    A Healthy Blog Running A Hospital Nature Network Boston SciBos - Corie Lok's blog Kevin, M.D. Blog, MD Nurse at small Dr. Gwenn Is In Healthy Children blog WBUR's CommonHealth Other Globe Blogs
Elizabeth Cooney is a health reporter for the Worcester Telegram &
Gazette.
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« BMC nurses protest scheduled today | Main | In case you missed it: healthcare spending squeeze, "baby whisperer" » Friday, May 11, 2007Hollywood smoking rating scripted by Harvard
Smoking will be weighed in movie ratings along with sex, violence and drug use, according to a new policy from a film industry panel influenced by the Harvard School of Public Health. Before yesterday's announcement by the Motion Picture Association of America, only teenage smoking scenes were taken into account when its ratings board reviewed movies. Now all tobacco use will be evaluated, the MPAA said, taking into consideration whether the portrayals are historically accurate or otherwise appropriate to the film. Smoking won't mean an automatic "R" rating, but new labels such as "glamorized smoking" or "pervasive smoking" will appear. "The addition of tobacco smoking as a factor in determining a movie's rating marks an historic and important step by the film industry to protect children and adolescents from one of the most significant health concerns our nation and our children face today," HSPH dean Barry R. Bloom said in a statement. Bloom, his Harvard colleague Jay Winsten, and Jonathan Samet of Johns Hopkins worked with the MPAA for more than a year to reduce the depiction of smoking in movies, bringing scientists to make presentions to the group. "By placing smoking on a par with considerations of violence and sex, the Rating Board has acknowledged the public health dangers to children associated with glamorized images of a toxic and lethal addiction to tobacco," Bloom's statement said. Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 03:23 PM
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