It can be hard to believe, but smoking cigarettes and cigars is often glamorized in the movies, sending a deceiving message to both youth and adults. A recent survey showed that 88% of all movies contain tobacco use with 25% of all movies containing extensive tobacco (31 or more incidents per movie). Another study indicated that of 311 movies reviewed and analyzed which contained tobacco use, 48% included pro tobacco messages.

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency is fighting to raise awareness of the movie-going public to the truth of smoking.

As part of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, staff from the Tobacco Education Department of the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency will be at Turlock Cinema, Brenden Theater in Modesto and the Galaxy Theatre in Riverbank between the hours of

4 p.m. – 7 p.m. (times subject to change) passing out literature in regard to smoking. The program is in partnership with the Doctors Medical Center Foundation.

Staff will also pass out a special smoke analyzer form designed to rank the movie on it's "smokiness" and glamorization of smoking. The form was developed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

According to Tobacco Education Program coordinator Heather Gruenig Duvall, "in California, fewer and fewer people are smoking, yet the movies continue to show people smoking all the time. It's not the reality of what is going on." Duvall is committed to raising awareness of moviegoers about the subtle way that a pro-smoking message is worked into movies. "Star power sells smoking, plain and simple. The more popular the star, the more people see them in the movies. If the star is smoking, that sends a message to everyone who sees it."

World No Tobacco Day is a project created by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help raise awareness to the negative impact of smoking. This year, there are new organizations joining the anti-smoking effort such as the internet company Blue Mountain Cards who are sponsoring a "World No Tobacco Day" card.

According to Duvall, "our goal is media literacy. The want people to be aware of the message being sent through the movies and to realize how much smoking they show."

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency (HSA) is an outpatient medical system with 9 medical offices located throughout Stanislaus County. The HSA operates the Public Health Department, an Urgent Care Center and multiple programs serving over 400,000 patients and clients each year in Stanislaus County. The HSA also is in local partnerships for the MOMobile project and the Stanislaus Family Practice Residency Program. The HSA has extensive community health information available at its web site www.schsa.org