RESOLUTION NO. _____________

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA

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RESOLUTION ENDORSING SMOKE FREE MOVIES CAMPAIGN

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RESOLVED, by the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Mateo, State of California, that

WHEREAS, tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death and disability; and

WHEREAS, according to Breathe California, youth ages 12-17 are 11% of the population but are 20% of all movie audiences; and

WHEREAS, according to Breathe California, most movies with tobacco imagery are rated G, PG, or PG-13, and three-quarters of all U.S. live action films rated PG-13 and 36 percent of films rated G or PG released in 1999-2006 featured tobacco; and

WHEREAS, according to Breathe California, exposure to smoking in movies recruits up to half (52 percent) all new adolescent smokers; and

WHEREAS, according to Breathe California, each year an estimated 390,000 teens start smoking because of exposure to smoking in movies and 120,000 will die prematurely as a result; and

WHEREAS, the World Health Organization, American Medical Association, American Heart Association, Breathe California, American Legacy Foundation, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, Society for Adolescent Medicine and others endorse getting smoking out of movies rated G, PG, and PG-13.

NOW THEREFORE this Board supports an endorsement of the following four objectives of the Smoke-Free Movie Campaign:

(1)

Rate new smoking movies “R,” with the sole exceptions being when the tobacco presentation clearly and unambiguously reflects the dangers and consequences of tobacco use or is necessary to represent smoking of a real historical figure;

(2)

Require producers to certify on screen that no one in the production received anything of value in consideration for using or displaying tobacco;

(3)

Require strong anti-smoking ads to be shown before any movie with tobacco use, regardless of rating; and

(4)

Stop identifying tobacco brands on screen.

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