tom_jerry.jpgThere will be no smoking in cartoons–at least in the UK, that is. A complaint lodged with British media regulator Ofcom has led Turner Broadcasting to consider editing out scenes that glamorizes smoking from its cartoons dating back to the 1940s.

LONDON - Turner Broadcasting is scouring more than 1,500 classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including old favorites Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo, to edit out scenes that glamorize smoking.

This would not include all scenes with tobacco-related products, though, but the censorship would be limited to those that suggest smoking is cool.

… cartoons would only be modified “where smoking could be deemed to be cool or glamorized”, and that scenes where a villain was featured with a cigarette or cigar would not necessarily be cut.

“These are historic cartoons, they were made well over 50 years ago in a different time and different place,” she added. “Our audience is children and we don’t want to be irresponsible.”

Ofcom said it recognized smoking was more generally accepted when cartoons were produced in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, but argued that the threshold for including such scenes when the audience was predominately young should be high.

Maybe people weren’t much of health buffs back then. Or perhaps it’s our fast-paced lifestyles today that makes everything more of a health risk than it was before.

Still, I think that smoking is not the only problem with cartoons. The regulators should also consider that some of these shows are quite violent in nature, especially Tom and Jerry. I find the show quite amusing, but it’s not something I’d let my preschool-aged kids watch.