Cigar Weekly

KEIRA Knightley in Atonement; Bruce Willis in Die Hard; Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction - all three have used smoking to great effect, creating enduring images of stars lighting up.

But now, in an attempt to de-glamorise tobacco, the British Medical Association (BMA) has called for the portrayal of smoking to be taken into account when classifying films.

The BMA, which is holding its annual conference in Edinburgh this week, also wants anti-smoking adverts to appear before television programmes which show people lighting up.

Images ranging from chain-smoking young people in Channel 4's Skins to Dot Cotton lighting up in EastEnders can all contribute to making cigarettes seem acceptable, several international studies suggest.

A new report by the BMA - Forever Cool: the Influence of Smoking Imagery on Young People - said that most smokers started before the age of 18, with virtually all taking up the habit before 25.

What is of particular concern to doctors is how images in the media can help make smoking seem normal and attractive to young people.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said cigarettes were made to appear a symbol of success.

She pointed to Independence Day, where Will Smith lights a cigar after killing aliens, and said that when films showed smoking in such a way, the British Board of Film Classification should raise the certificate.

"Where a film might be a 12 certificate, if it includes positive images of smoking then that should nudge the certificate up," she said.

Magazines also needed to consider the images of smoking they used. Dr Nathanson said rather than using pictures of Kate Moss or Amy Winehouse having a cigarette, photos of them not smoking should be used.

The BMA said that, along with other measures to reduce smoking, such as a ban on vending machines - proposed by the Scottish Government - the aim should be to make the UK tobacco-free by 2035.

But a spokesman for pro-choice smoking campaign group Forest said assessing the content of films was an act of censorship, and thus something that should bother everyone, including non-smokers.

Such a move would lead to films such as 101 Dalmatians - in which the villainous Cruella de Vil smokes throughout - receiving an 18 certificate, he said. "What kind of country has an 18 certificate on 101 Dalmatians? It's completely insane."

But health campaigners welcomed the BMA's call.

Professor Gerard Hastings, of Cancer Research UK, said: "Ultimately [young people] will only be truly protected when tobacco promotion and marketing in all its forms ceases to exist."

Shona Robison, Scotland's public health minister, welcomed the BMA's report.