Athens’ St. Mary’s Healthcare and Trinity Health are urging members of the community to join the Smokefree Movies organization to raise awareness of the destructive impact of smoking in movies. Experts say tobacco is still the largest cause of preventable death in Georgia and the United States.
Public Relations Manager Mark Ralston says the hospital is joining the #HelpOscarQuit movement.
“The CDC estimates that just giving movies that feature smoking an R rating could prevent a million tobacco deaths in this generation of young adults.
According to Smokefree Movies, smoking was featured in 86 percent of films nominated in major categories this year. For more information, visit www.stmarysathens.org.
This is the highest percent of tobacco use in nominated films in the past four years. The US Surgeon General has confirmed that smoking and tobacco use featured in movies causes kids to start smoking. Of the PG-13 youth–rated films that are nominated this year, 50 percent of featured smoking. All 16 of the R-rated movies featured tobacco use.
