CHINA ORDERS SMOKING CURTAILED IN MOVIES, TV

The Chinese government on Monday ordered movie and television producers to markedly cut back scenes showing actors smoking, limiting them only to scenes in which it can be demonstrated that smoking serves “an artistic purpose.” In any case, the scenes can not take place in public areas where smoking is banned, and underaged actors may not be present in any smoking scenes. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television insisted that it will impose strict control of smoking scenes, which, it said, “do not accord with China’s stance on tobacco control and will mislead the public, especially the young. The state news agency Xinhua said that a survey conducted among 11,000 middle school students by Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, showed 32.87 percent of the students wanted to try smoking after seeing actors smoke.