smoking problem

I think that's entirely possibly.

Think about what smoking is. It's drawing a foreign substance into your lungs, knowing that the particles and carcinogens will likely result in cancer, and will certainly result in a substantial loss of lung capacity.

So why would ANYONE pick up a cigarette if not because they thought it was cool, or it was something they wanted to try because they saw someone else doing it, or have heard of the supposed 'benefits' of it, etc etc. I would argue that outside influences such as movies, tv shows, friends, role models are 100% responsible for a person taking up smoking for the first time.

the whole problem is how the movies portray smoking. whenever you see someone smoking on tv now a days they try and make it look sexy with a women slowly releasing out the smoke!

I somewhat agree, in that I was raised in the time of movies showing just about everyone but pet dogs smoking, and also at the time of some large billboard ads showing 'cool' people, including women, enjoying life while smoking. I do think it made a difference for me, that even while my parents didn't smoke (ok, my father a pipe occasionally and once in a blue moon a cigar), I tried the first cigarette offered me, and liked it enough to have more of them.

The difference between then and now, nearly fifty years, is that now more and more people are smart about the troubles that smoking means to your health, and that huge numbers of people don't like to be around smokers and their smell.
Very different socialization - so I can see that one brought up now might very well not be the least bit affected by movies. I guess I can believe the 10% and might have estimated it at a higher percentage.

I'll add that I doubt it would be just one movie or one billboard - more a culture of acceptance of smoking as a cool thing, the movie and ad being feature of that, but only one feature.

It also depends on where you are in the world or even area of a city - in that the local culture may be more pro smoking than some other places, which might affect local young people more than where smoking is considered dumb.

That may be somewhat true. I believe it is the environment as a whole - The attitude of parents, peers, ect., along with the movie smoking. I never wanted my kids to smoke, but I stupidly smoked in their presence. By the time I became smoke free, my kids had grown and all but one was a smoker.

"Likely". That must mean that smoking causes cancer in over 50% of smokers. That has to be what the word means.

Poor word choice, I was excitable having been been off smokes for 4 years now after being a 20 year 2 pack a day-er.

Please, in all of your boundless knowledge, can you find it in your heart to forgive?

Yah, sure. I don't usually relate to sarcasm, but sure.

Twenty years, that's how long I smoked - but heavily. Congrats on quitting, Questioner.