Public Health is sponsoring Outdoor Movie Night on Thursday, August 30 at Kelso Beach in Owen Sound. These family events are non-smoking.

Around the world, health advocates are sounding the alarm about the effect of smoking in movies. Research has shown that smoking onscreen is connected to smoking in real life. It leads to youth experimenting and becoming hooked to the addictive commercial product. At least 185,000 children and teens aged 0-17 living in Ontario today are recruited to cigarette smoking through exposure to onscreen smoking. Currently, the Ontario movie rating system considers violence, sexual content and substance use. Tobacco is allowed in any movie rating. From 2004 to 2017, 86% of top-grossing movies that depicted tobacco were youth rated in Ontario.

"Tobacco is still the number one cause of preventable disease and death in Ontario, but movies continue to push smoking at children and youth," says Brooke Tomsett, Youth Advisor with the Grey Bruce Health Unit. "Smoking has been banned from many places including T.V, magazines, and store displays in Canada because we know that advertising and promotion of this product increases its use and young people are especially at risk. Most people begin smoking before the age of 18."

Visit Kelso Beach on August 30 to see Despicable Me 3 free. Interactive events will begin around 7:30 p.m. There will be a short presentation before the movie where parents can learn how a simple rating change could protect all young people in Ontario. To learn more about this issue visit www.smokefreemovies.ca

source: media release, Grey Bruce Health Unit