Dear Jeff,

I caught my 16 year old niece smoking the other day. I tried to talk to her about the health risks involved with smoking, but I don’t think I got through to her.  These days, celebrities have more of an influence on her that even her “cool” Aunt Susie has.  Are there any celebrities who have come out against teen smoking that I can tell her about?

First of all, kudos to you for wanting to do something about this. Cigarette smoking is truly the number one cause of the preventable death in America.

You’re right. Hollywood does have influence on kids and smoking – unfortunately not a positive one. Kids who recall having been exposed to more movies featuring smoking are almost three times more likely to start smoking than their peers who do not recall being exposed to many movie smoking scenes.

But some in Hollywood are taking notice and taking care. Just this past fall, Tyra Banks banned smoking from the set of her 9th season of her highly popular show among teens, America's Next Top Model. And this season Tyra Banks had something else in store: The first photo shoot competition had the wannabe models pose in two shots: One as a "glamorous" smoker, the other as that smoker's ugly reflection in the mirror. The reflection represented a deadly consequence of smoking cigarettes.

But Aunties also make great role models. Please don’t give up trying to influence her yourself. She needs you.