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In addition to giving an R rating to any movie that features smoking or tobacco use, studios can certify that neither they nor their producers were paid to show tobacco on screen, and they can choose to stop depicting tobacco brands altogether, the researchers suggested. They also said that states could limit subsidies to movies that depict tobacco use.

“Since 2010 there has been no progress in reducing the total number of tobacco incidents in youth-rated movies,” they wrote. “Had the trend established from 2005 to 2010 continued, all youth-rated films would have been smoke-free by 2015.”

The rise of smoking on screen has worried health professionals, who warned that the more frequency with which young people see tobacco use in movies will make them more likely to smoke.

UCSF and its other research partners are hoping these findings will push for stricter ratings within the film industry.

"The MPAA needs to modernize the rating system to reflect the conclusive science that putting smoking on a screen increases the chances of youth smoking and then dying prematurely as a result."

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.

The numbers are prompting concern from public health researchers and advocates over the effects these scenes have on young people's behavior. [Includes video with Acting Surgeon General]

"Modernizing Hollywood's rating system to protect the audience by awarding movies with smoking an R rating would save a million kids' lives."

While freedom of artistic expression is important, limiting the marketing of smoking (a dangerous, expensive, and addictive habit) in teenage and young-adult movies seems like a cause that all studio heads and filmmakers should be able to rally behind.

"Easier access, coupled with a growing number of tobacco images in film, means more and more young people will be put at risk of a lifetime addiction, disease and possibly an early death," said American Heart Association president Nancy Brown.

Progress stalled six years ago, new study finds.

The CDC determined that giving an R rating to movies with tobacco content would prevent 1 million tobacco deaths among children and teens alive today.

“Unless the film industry acts to keep smoking out of youth-rated movies, millions more will be influenced to smoke, resulting in tobacco-induced cancers, heart and lung disease, or stroke,” said American Academy of Pediatrics President Fernando Stein, M.D., FAAP.

"Easier access, coupled with a growing number of tobacco images in film, means more and more young people will be put at risk of a lifetime addiction, disease and possibly an early death," [American Heart Association president Nancy Brown] said in a news release.

The report suggests that public subsidies should not go to support ... movies that portray smoking.

Nancy Brown, head of the American Heart Association (AHA), called the findings a "troublesome plot twist."

While Hollywood has reduced smoking in films aimed at younger audiences, parents can't be certain kids won't be exposed to onscreen cigarette or cigar puffing, even with PG-rated or animated movies.

Video clip: The day before the 2017 Oscars, CTV Toronto interviews Ontario Coalition for Smokefree Movies' Chris Yacatto and Tracy McCharles, Ontario's Minister of Consumer Services, whose agency overseas the film ratings.

The Oscars remind us that kids and teens in Ontario have a much higher exposure to onscreen tobacco imagery than those in the United States, due to different rating systems. This year, out of 15 Oscar nominations in major categories that show smoking, only two of them have an 18A rating in Ontario, while eight are rated R in the US.

Just a few days before the 89th Academy Awards are handed out in Los Angeles, a group of students at David Thompson Secondary in Vancouver is calling out films and directors that, they say, are glamourizing smoking to young people.

Study recommends stronger enforcement of Indian rules that add anti-tobacco warnings to programming with tobacco imagery.

The Indian film and television industry has come out strongly against a WHO-sponsored study criticizing implementation of anti-tobacco messages on films and shows with smoking.

Cigarettes feature in all but one of James Bond's 24 movies filmed to date, new research has discovered. And despite kicking the habit in 2002 - before Daniel Craig took over - he continues to be exposed to second-hand smoke from his sexual partners, experts say.

The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that...simple movie ratings changes could reduce the number of teen smokers by nearly one in five (18 per cent), and prevent one million deaths from smoking among U.S. children alive today. In Canada, the ratings systems are even worse, with 86 per cent of movies featuring tobacco use being youth-rated

The solution is an “R” rating for all movies that contain tobacco imagery. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that giving an “R” rating to future movies with tobacco would be expected to reduce the number of teen smokers by nearly one in five and prevent one million deaths from smoking among children alive today.

A judge concludes that ratings are opinions, that misrepresentations haven't been made and that the proposed class action interferes with free speech.

The MPAA has a free speech right to assign a G, PG, or PG-13 rating to movies that depict tobacco use, a U.S. District Court has ruled — rejecting an argument that the practice is a form of commercial speech that dangerously encourages kids to smoke.

MPAA members tell a judge that "PG," "PG-13" and other ratings don't represent seals of approval.

The MPAA has accused Thom of “academic malpractice,” stating that his study is so flawed that it not only tarnishes his own reputation but USC’s as well.

Hot topic for discussion as Toronto International Film Festival kicks off.