Pediatricians want children to view fewer advertisements for cigarettes, alcohol and prescription drugs.

Among the recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics are the following:

• Limit advertisements on television if 10% or more of the audience consists of children
• Launch a new government anti-smoking and anti-drinking campaign aimed at teenagers
• Ask parents to supervise their children's use of media
• Restrict erectile dysfunction messages for broadcast only after 10 p.m.
• Begin a debate about the wisdom of advertising prescription drugs.

"Alcohol remains the greatest public health problem, and it remains the most lethal drug for young people," said Dr. John Knight, Director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research at Children's Hospital of Boston. "Advertising glamorizes alcohol and really primes our kids to think they can't have fun unless there is booze."

The recommendations appear in the journal Pediatrics.

Labels: alcohol, prescription drugs, cigarettes, media

Posted By: CRC Health Group