Legal chiefs tell Hollywood to cut down on smoking

Legal chiefs have met Hollywood executives, asking them to curb the amount of smoking in films, which they say can encourage young people to take up the habit.

Attorneys from Connecticut, Utah and Vermont met directors and production executives from the seven major studios in Los Angeles.

The meeting “was the first step in what I hope will be a continuing and important dialogue to prevent the deadly problem of youth smoking”, said Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran,.

Attorneys from Maine and California also are urging Hollywood to reduce gratuitous smoking on the screen. They previously met Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

They say they are concerned about recent studies showing that smoking continues to be glamorised in film and television and that cigarette brand names continue to be shown, despite a 1998 agreement that bars tobacco companies from paying to have their products on film.