News Release

Wyoming County Reality Check Teens Join Commissioner Daines in NYC to Call for Smoke-Free Movies for Youth

On June 1st, Wyoming County teens from Attica and Warsaw High School helped represent the Buffalo Area as members of Reality Check, an anti-tobacco youth action grant program sponsored by the New York State Department of Health, at the Reality Check Statewide Summit in NYC. The Wyoming County Reality Check Program grant is administered by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wyoming County. This year's Reality Check statewide summit focused on the dangers of smoking in movies, which contributes to more than ½ of all newly recruited youth tobacco users each year. State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D, joined prominent tobacco-control advocates and more than 200 high school students from around the state to demand that the six companies that own the major motion picture studios eliminate smoking and other tobacco imagery from youth-rated movies.

"Smoking in movies is a significant problem for youth because when they see their idols, or the people they look up to smoking they think it is cool," says Sarah Carlson, a senior student at Warsaw High School. Fellow Warsaw High School senior student Ashley White adds, "By attending the Reality Check statewide summit we helped show people that smoking in movies influences youth to smoke in real life." Sarah Strumpf (Attica High School) also helped represent the Wyoming County Reality Check Program at the Reality Check summit rally.

Studies have linked exposure to on-screen smoking with up to half of all youth smoking initiation, including findings by the National Cancer Institute of a causal relationship between exposure to depictions of smoking in movies and young people starting smoking.

Commissioner Daines noted that the major motion picture studios owned by six companies - SONY, Time Warner, Viacom, News Corp., General Electric, and Disney - have delivered 275 billion "toxic tobacco impressions" to movie viewers over the last 10 years. Unless the movie studios adopt policy changes, he said an estimated 190,000 New Yorkers who are children today will eventually die of smoking-related illnesses because of the powerful effects of smoking imagery in films.

"Unlike most major public health threats, there is an easy, low-cost solution to the problem of smoking in movies," said Dr. Daines. "The film industry can immediately reduce youth exposure to smoking imagery by assigning all future movies with smoking depictions an R rating. This simple step, which has been widely endorsed by leading public health organizations, will help save hundreds of thousands of lives."

"Because of the enormous threat to the health of our youth, the State Health Department is obliged to inform the public about the hazards of smoking in movies," said Dr. Daines."

Adopting policy solutions that reduce youth initiation of tobacco use will cost media companies almost nothing - especially when compared with the $8.17 billion that tobacco costs New York State each year in medical care."

More information about the impact of smoking in movies is available at: http://www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/.

Upcoming Reality Check Events

• July 10th - Reality Check Smoke Free Movie Night at the Warsaw Village Park. This is a free outdoor movie event - just bring a blanket and a lawn chair! This is also a substance free event (no alcohol, tobacco etc.) Seating begins at 8pm and movie begins at sundown (approx. 8:45pm). The movie will be Hotel for Dogs (PG).
  
  
• July 17th - Reality Check night at the Charcoal Corral in Perry. First 75 people get in free - gates open at 6pm.