BigTrancer
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Health lobby fuming over Nicole's puff
By MANDI ZONNEVELDT, health reporter
22may03
NICOLE Kidman has angered health groups for lighting up during an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival.
Footage of the Aussie actor smoking was beamed around the world after she took a cigarette from co-star Stellan Skarsgard and lit up during a press conference to promote her new film, Dogville.
Kidman was admonished by the film's director, Lars Von Trier, but shrugged her shoulders and kept puffing.
Anti-smoking groups yesterday criticised Kidman for glamorising smoking and perpetuating the image that the habit was associated with success.
Anne Jones, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health Australia, said Kidman's decision to smoke at the press conference would have a devastating effect on the health of young women and girls.
"Smoking by celebrities has been used by the tobacco industry for decades to glamorise smoking," she said.
"We accept that Nicole Kidman has a right to smoke but with celebrity comes a responsibility to avoid promoting lethal and addictive products to young people."
Quit chief executive Todd Harper said Kidman's decision to light up was disappointing.
"If we're looking at the problem of young people and smoking, most young people start before the age of 18," he said.
"People like Nicole are the sort of people who are looked up to by younger people in the community. It's disappointing she chose this sort of forum to do it in."
A recent study in the British Medical Journal found children whose favourite actors smoked in films were more likely to have tried cigarettes.
Smoking kills 6000 women every year in Australia and costs the country $21 billion.
Democrats health and ageing spokeswoman Senator Lyn Allison called on the Federal Government to act on its promise to introduce health warnings on films depicting smoking.
She said glamorising smoking in films and fashion was a method frequently used by tobacco companies to attract young women.
Kidman's Australian publicist, Wendy Day, could not be contacted yesterday.
From: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6471878%5E2902,00.html
Damn, you can't even enjoy legal drugs in peace for fear of being accused of "promoting lethal and addictive products to young people".
BigTrancer
