Number of films featuring smoking has risen by 43% in six years

Experts warn it is a troublesome trend that puts youngsters at risk of addiction

The number of pre-teen films featuring smoking has risen by 43% in the past six years, a study has revealed. Films releasing globally are increasingly showing tobacco use, prompting fears that children may be encouraged to take up smoking.

Experts warned the results are a 'troublesome plot twist' in the health of young people, who may be at an increased risk of tobacco addiction because of the rise in on-screen smoking, reported Daily Mail.

'Modernising Hollywood's rating system to reflect the audience by awarding movies with smoking an R rating would save a million kids' lives,' said study leader Stanton Glantz, director of the Centre for Tobacco Control Research at the University of California, San Francisco.

For the study, researchers recorded the number of smoking scenes in popular films targetted at children between 2010 and 2016.



Types of tobacco use included cigarettes, cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco and electronic cigarettes.

They found that the number of top-grossing films showing smoking rose by 72 per cent from 1,824 to 3,145 during the study period. And the number of R-rated movies featuring smoking rose by 90 per cent in the study period.

Not only movies, but the fashion industry too seems to have been endorsing the disturbing trend – and are exhibiting the habit unapologetically. Cancer expert s have criticised the likes of supermodel Bella Hadid and Fifty Shades of Grey actress Dakota Johnson for 'glamorising cigarettes'.

A whole host of celebrities at the Maet Gala this year for instance, including Frances Bean Cobain, Ruby Rose, Paris Jackson and Lara Stone ignored the hazards of posing with smokes altogether. Although the annual Met Gala is meant to celebrate fashion, an alternative theme this year seemed to endorse smoking.

Despite the known dangers of tobacco use, stars ignored health risks and posed for pictures dangling cigarettes from their mouths and fingertips. Decades of research point to the multiple issues smoking can lead to, including lung cancer, clogged arteries and shortened life expectancy.

With the hazards that tobacco are proven to cause, medical experts are condemning celebrities who are glamorising the harmful practice.

Figures show that smoking rates for teens are at an all-time low following anti-tobacco programmes and Hollywood censoring smoking in movies, restricting it for younger audiences.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.