A group of anti-smoking advocates is calling on the Ontario Film Review Board to change its rating process, so that all movies rated as appropriate for younger viewers will be completely smoke- and tobacco-free.

The group is pushing the board to give all movies that feature smoking a rating of 18A – meaning viewers younger than 18 may only watch the film in theatres if they are accompanied by an adult.

The group says the move is necessary to prevent a new generation of Canadians from lighting up.

Results of the 2013 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs survey found that the smoking rate among Canadians older than 14, is at an all-time low, at 15 per cent of the population.

According to the survey results released Tuesday, 11 per cent of teens between the ages of 15 to 19 use tobacco, and 18 per cent of adults between the ages of 20 to 24.

Lorraine Fry, executive director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association and co-chair of the Ontario Coalition for Smoke-Free Movies, told CTVNews.ca that movies remain one of the last entertainment media where children can see smoking.

"Especially in Canada, we have banned almost all other forms of advertising or promotion," Fry said, explaining that movies starring famous celebrities and featuring exciting plot lines can exert a powerful influence on young people.

"If kids see a lot of smoking in movies by stars they look up to, they think it's cool, they think it's socially acceptable and they think it's a normal thing to do," she said.

Fry and her colleagues will be hosting a forum on the issue in Toronto on Thursday, called "Silencing Big Tobacco on the Big Screen: A Smoke-Free Movies Forum."

Smoking initiation

The group points to a growing body of research linking smoking in movies to smoking initiation.

The research includes a meta-analysis that suggests 37 per cent of youth smokers picked up the habit after seeing tobacco imagery in movies.

Dr. Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said his study builds on a "large evidence base" showing a relationship between exposure to smoking in film and smoking initiation.

The WHO and the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also raised concerns about tobacco's presence in the movies.

In a separate study released last May, the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit found that, of the top-grossing movies released in theatres from 2004 to 2013, 57 per cent featured onscreen tobacco or smoking. And of those films, 86 per cent were youth-rated in Ontario. By comparison, only 54 per cent of the same films were youth-rated in the U.S.

The study estimates that in 2005 and 2007-2012, about 13,241 Ontarians between the ages of 12 to 17 took up smoking each year because of exposure to smoking in films.

A 'balancing act'

Bruce Davis, chair of the OFRB, said that the review board has already taken strides to alert viewers when smoking appears in films aimed at youth.

Along with smoking, the board also assesses movies for any coarse language, nudity, sexual activity, violence and gore, he said.

"It's like a matrix, we look at all of those things," he told CTVNews.ca. "These judgments are being made every day by our panel."

And when smoking or tobacco products appear in movies rated "G" or "PG," the board issues a warning label to parents.

"On the issue of tobacco, what we decided as a group generally, if there's a film for young kids – then we will put an advisory on the film," he said. "That way parents, when they're bringing their children to the movies, will be able to talk to them about the content."

He said the board has not yet gone as far as rating all movies with smoking "18A," noting that the board has “a bit of a balancing act” when it comes to artistic freedom of expression and important tobacco reduction initiatives.

Effect on Hollywood

But tobacco-control advocates, including Glantz, have rejected the notion that an advisory is a fair compromise.

"What the science now shows very compellingly is that by putting those images in and exposing kids to them, we're actually doing physical harm,” he said of those kids who then go on to take up smoking as a result.

He notes that a stricter rating system can have a significant impact on the movie industry.

When movie scripts are being written, the producers and directors take into consideration the desired rating they want for the film.

"When Hollywood makes a movie the desired rating for the film is actually written into the contract," he said. "And they're expected to shoot and edit the film to get the desired rating."

Therefore if the OFRB changed its rating system and banned all smoking in movies aimed at youth, and Hollywood wanted to show the film in Ontario, they'd have to write and direct the film accordingly, he said.

Glantz said this could prove to be a powerful force for change in the movie industry, as most producers would not be willing to shoot two different versions of the film (one with smoking and one without), simply to show it in Ontario.

"Fixing the rating system requires one signature, and it would substantially reduce youth initiation (into smoking) and it would cost nothing," he said. "It's the most cost-effective thing you could imagine."