The scariest movies are those featuring smoking, say campaigners

ZOMBIES and ghosts brought a scary Halloween message to Liverpool last night.

A 70-strong group of dancers and members of the SmokeFree youth group, D-MYST, marched through the city in Halloween costumes to raise awareness of smoking in youth-orientated movies.

Processions left from Old Hall Street and Rodney Street at 5pm and met in Liverpool One for a Halloween-themed performance from local dance group MD Productions, who appeared on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

The event is part of the SmokeFree Movies Scary Movies campaign which is designed to turn the spotlight on the issue – the biggest single influence on young people to start smoking. SmokeFree Liverpool are asking UK film regulators BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) to keep smoking out of all future films which can be seen by under-18s.

Gideon Ben-Tovim, chairman of Liverpool PCT said: “This issue is a simple one, and simple action can be taken instantly by the BBFC, who already have the power to rate films which show smoking images as adult only.

“The scientific fact is that more than half the young people who take up smoking say they did so because of seeing smoking in movies. That means thousands of under-18s are put at risk because of smoking images which simply don't need to be there.

“The BBFC already know the facts, but have chosen to do nothing.”