The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced on May 10 that decisions on movie ratings would begin to take into account depictions of pervasive or glorified smoking, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The MPAA announced the new policy amid ongoing criticism of the movie industry for failing to curtail the exposure of young filmgoers to depictions of characters smoking onscreen. The new policy would add smoking to existing onscreen portrayals that affect film ratings, including violence, profanity, nudity, and drug use.

Anti-smoking advocates have pressured the MPAA for years to take action against onscreen smoking. The film association resisted a call by 32 state attorneys general to automatically slap an "R" rating on movies that depict smoking unless the films portray its dangers or an historic figure. The attorneys general made their recommendations based on a Harvard School of Public Health report on the effect of movie portrayals of smoking on children.

Reports on the prevalence of smoking in movies differ. The MPAA's Classification and Safety Administration reported that the percentage of films with "even a glimpse of smoking" dropped from 60% in July 2004 to 52% in July 2006, and three-fourths of these films received an "R" rating for other reasons.

However, research by Dartmouth Medical School released last week showed that 74% of 534 recent box-office hits contained smoking, with many of these movies receiving a "PG-13" rating. This same study found that German teens who witnessed the most smoking in movies were twice as likely to have tried cigarettes than those who saw the least amount of smoking in movies. Previous research by Dartmouth concluded that watching smoking in movies tripled the risk that children ages 10-14 would try cigarettes.

University of California San Francisco Professor of Medicine Stanton A. Glantz says a study he co-authored found that 72% of live-action films from 2004 through 2006 contained smoking. He criticized MPAA's policy announcement.

"Rather than putting in a clean, easily understandable, easily enforceable rule, that if you want to put smoking in, just like if you want to put nudity, in you're going to get an 'R', they're going to 'take it into consideration,' whatever that means," he says. 

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids also criticized the policy as lacking teeth. "The MPAA needs to establish meaningful, objective standards that produce measurable reductions in smoking in the movies. Instead, it has adopted a highly subjective policy that calls for the Film Ratings Board to 'consider smoking' when rating movies and states that movies 'may' receive a higher rating because of pervasive or glamorized smoking," he said.

However, the MPAA deems a mandatory "R" rating unnecessary and would preclude any context that might affect the smoking portrayal, citing last year's "Superman Returns" movie, which was rated "PG-13", where Superman repeatedly blows out Lois Lane's cigarette.