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Activists on Tuesday opposed a recent proposal to do away with the static mandatory anti-tobacco message shown in movies and television serials when smoking scenes appear on the screen.

India's former health minister opposes weakening tobacco warnings in films.

The Shyam Benegal committee has recommended scrapping the existing advisory and replacing it with a static visual at the beginning of the film.

Should a child going to a G-rated movie be exposed to characters smoking on screen? The MPAA is defending itself from a lawsuit about that. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with film historian David Thomson.

The plaintiffs claim the MPAA’s rating system isn’t a protected expression of opinion but a form of commercial speech. As such, the First Amendment protections are much weaker, they argue.

[Major studios' trade group] says a ban on smoking would be attack on free speech – and indeed, most movies still reek of tobacco, even those aimed at teenagers.

Plaintiffs defend a lawsuit seeking an injunction where no films featuring tobacco imagery can be given G, PG or PG-13 ratings.

New Zealand researchers are calling for an R rating for TV shows and films containing tobacco imagery, after a study that shows there has been little change in on-screen smoking in the past 10 years.

India's on-screen warning that 'smoking is injurious to health' does not stop people emulating the smoking character, says the IMA, which represents more then two million physicians and medical students across the country.

He 'smoked himself out' while filming The Nice Guys and admits he has now given up the habit for good.

The debate about smoking and the movies raises important questions about the history of government regulation of the movies, the ability of an industry to regulate itself, and the best ways to advocate for changes to what we see on our movie screens.

In response to a class-action lawsuit, MPAA members raise the First Amendment flag and warn of forced R ratings for movies with soda and fatty foods.

'We should not allow movies to be advertising vehicles for big tobacco,' said Truth CEO Robin Koval.

A nearly 60-page complaint filed by Timothy Forsyth accuses the film industry of ignoring scientific evidence linking big screen smoking to adolescent habits.

California's anti-smoking lobby wants Hollywood to give up cigarettes. But what's so wrong with stars who light up the screen?

The complaint also seeks damages for consumers who bought tickets to movies that were negligently rated, and disgorgement of gains from the alleged inaccurate ratings.

The dispute centers on a class-action complaint seeking to prevent films with tobacco imagery from receiving G, PG or PG-13 ratings.

Lawsuit seeks an injunction where no films featuring tobacco imagery can be given "G," "PG" or "PG-13" ratings.

Indeed, the World Health Organization in early February stated that onscreen smoking prompts more than a third of young people who smoke to do so.

Complaint claims that instances of smoking in youth-related films, with certain exceptions, are negligent.

A father hit the Motion Picture Association of America and six of Hollywood's largest film studios with a proposed class action over including smoking scenes in movies rated suitable for children.

The period film is rated PG-13, and one of the reasons for that is his character’s insistence on lighting up.

The Dolby Theatre will have a strict no smoking policy on Oscars night. This also applies to e-cigarettes and vaping will be banned from venue. Comes after Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted vaping at the SAG awards. The pictures prompted a backlash from the American Lung Association.

Adult rating would protect children from glamourisation of act.

Big Tobacco increasingly using films to market cigarettes to children, WHO warns.

Cigarette companies are turning to film industry to recruit next generation of smokers, warns World Health Organization.

Movies which contain smoking scenes or tobacco imagery "should be given an adult rating", the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in a new report, in a bid to remove the perceived glamour of the practice.

Films that include smoking should receive higher age ratings and lose public subsidies, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Praising the pioneering legislative initiatives made by India and China in protecting non-smokers from smoking imagery in entertainment products, the WHO expert added that "much more needs to be done".

WHO is calling on governments to rate movies that portray tobacco use in a bid to prevent children and adolescents from starting to smoke cigarettes and use other forms of tobacco.