Children who view favorable images of smoking on TV or in movies have a 90-percent greater risk of becoming smokers, according to a meta-analysis of research studies on the link between smoking and exposure to tobacco ads and on-screen imagery.

HealthDay News reported Dec. 4 that study author Robert Wellman of the University of Massachusetts Medical School said that "all children are at risk from pro-tobacco media, whether the object is to market tobacco products from the companies or simply the portrayal of tobacco use in films, TV or videos. The tobacco companies have been targeting kids for years, and they haven't ever stopped."

Wellman and colleagues reviewed findings from 51 previously conducted studies and concluded that movie and TV images can be even more psychologically reinforcing for smoking than tobacco ads.

Wellman said that all tobacco ads should be banned and that movies with smoking scenes should be rated "R" or "NC17." A spokesperson for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids added that Congress should give the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products and marketing.

A spokesperson for tobacco company Philip Morris said that the company does not want "our brands or brand imagery depicted in movies and television shows."

The findings are published in the December 2006 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.