HANOI, May 28 — Vietnam, where one out of two men smoke, is snuffing out smoking scenes in local films as part of a campaign against cigarettes.

''We will cut all smoking scenes from all Vietnamese movies,'' Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat, deputy director of the Vietnam State Movie Bureau, told Reuters on Wednesday. Ngat, who also presides over the industry watchdog, the Movies Editing Deparment, said censors in the communist country would consider allowing ''indispensable smoking scenes'' such as soldiers sharing a cigarette during wartime. But scenes that incited smoking would be removed from new movies and directors have been ordered to minimise the use of cigarettes as props, she added. Vietnam has already banned cigarette advertising and smoking in public premises is restricted, though widely flouted. The country of 80 million has around 16,000 deaths each year from smoking-related illnesses, according to government figures.

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