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Shurtleff joins campaign against tobacco use in movies

Posted at 4:08 PM, May 10, 2012
and last updated 2012-05-10 18:08:00-04

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and 37 state attorneys general are urging movie studios to eliminate smoking scenes in youth-rated movies. 

On Wednesday, all of the attorneys signed a letter to the studios as a follow-up to the March 8 U.S. Surgeon General’s report that shows there is a relationship between people smoking in movies and the influence on youth to smoke.

Shurtleff says he hopes the movie studios will love their customers enough to take the needed steps to reduce the harm by including anti-tobacco spots on all future DVDs and Blu-ray videos, add closing credits stating no payoffs were made between the studio and tobacco companies in all future films, and adopt corporate policies to eliminate tobacco use.