Personal Injury Law

Pediatricians Want All Tobacco Ads Banned

By Chrissie Cole

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) wants to restrict advertising that exposes children to certain products including alcohol, tobacco and erectile dysfunction drugs as well as other prescription medications.

The AAP's new policy statement, "Children, Adolescents, Substance Abuse, and the Media," will be published in the October issue of Pediatrics.

'We are a group of 65,000 pediatricians that are vitally concerned with the health of children,' said Dr. Victor Strasburger of the American Academy of Pediatrics, author of the new policy statement.

It says that more than $25 billion worth of cigarette, alcohol and prescription drug advertising is effectively working to get children to "just say yes" to smoking, drinking and other drugs.

The group is also calling on the entertainment industry to ban tobacco and drug use in television and movies aimed at younger audiences, writes WebMD. They cite research that shows watching TV and movies that depict alcohol and drug use are risk factors for drug and alcohol use in adolescents.

Full post as published by New York City Personal Injury Lawyer on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).