S-rated movies: no smoking thank you

Health officials are considering new moves to crack down on smoking now that lighting up has been banned in bars.

Increasing tobacco taxes tops the list as usual, but one new idea is to ban children and adolescents from movies in which actors smoke.

Another is to educate parents about the link between giving pocket money and their children smoking.

"New Zealand data show a relationship between pocket money and smoking," says a Health Ministry report on tobacco control.

The ministry will consider funding an education campaign on this and will also evaluate paying for "counter-advertising" in cinemas and on television in association with movies carrying positive smoking images.

"Placing age restrictions on movies with smoking could also be considered."

American researchers have shown that the more children are allowed to watch R-rated films - to which no one under 17 is admitted without a parent - the more likely they are to smoke and drink.

New Zealand anti-smoking lobbyists are keen for age restrictions to be imposed on films featuring smoking.

"Eighteen makes the most sense to me," said Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) director Becky Freeman.

This is the age at which people can legally buy or be supplied in public with cigarettes.

The ministry says regular, pre-planned tobacco tax increases are probably the most important measure to reduce the number of young people taking up smoking.

Other ideas under consideration include reducing cigarettes' nicotine levels and reducing the size of retail tobacco displays.