William Atkins
Sunday, 11 January 2009 21:10
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
On January 11, 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General announced the results of a comprehensive study on the health effects of cigarette smoking. The official warning, made forty-five years ago, stated that “Cigarette smoking is a health hazard….”
The dangers of cigarette smoking were already a concern for many people around the world in the 1950s and 1960s.
A string of scientific papers had already been published that suggested
tobacco smoking caused lung cancer and many other deadly diseases.
For example, scientists at the Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom) concluded on March 7, 1962 that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer and bronchitis and probably also contributed to cardiovascular disease.
Two years later, on January 11, 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General, through his Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, released the report “
Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States.”
After reviewing over 7,000 medical journal articles, the report made by U.S. surgeon general
Luther L. Terry stated,
“Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action."
This report is considered that first widely-publicized report by the federal government that cigarette smoking is harmful to the health of humans.
Page two discusses some of the conclusions made within the U.S. report.
