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History of the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health

1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health

Video introduction of the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health
Listen to a video introduction of the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health.
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  • More than 40 years ago, on January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, M.D., Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, released the report of the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health. That landmark document, now referred to as the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health, was America's first widely publicized official recognition that cigarette smoking is a cause of cancer and other serious diseases.

  • On the basis of more than 7,000 articles relating to smoking and disease already available at that time in the biomedical literature, the Advisory Committee concluded that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer and laryngeal cancer in men, a probable cause of lung cancer in women, and the most important cause of chronic bronchitis. The committee stated that "Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action."

  • What would constitute "appropriate remedial action" was left unspecified. But the release of the report was the first in a series of steps, still being taken more than 40 years later, to diminish the impact of tobacco use on the health of the American people.

  • The circumstances surrounding the release of the first report in 1964 are worth remembering. The date chosen was a Saturday morning to guard against a precipitous reaction on Wall Street. An auditorium in the State Department was selected because its security could be assured—it had been the site for press conferences of the late President John F. Kennedy, whose assassination had occurred fewer than 2 months earlier.

  • The first two copies of the 387-page, brown-covered report were hand delivered to the West Wing of the White House at 7:30 on that Saturday morning. At 9:00, accredited press representatives were admitted to the auditorium and "locked-in," without access to telephones. Surgeon General Terry and his Advisory Committee took their seats on the platform. The report was distributed and reporters were allowed 90 minutes to read it. Questions were answered by Dr. Terry and his committee members. Finally, the doors were opened and the news was spread. For several days, the report furnished newspaper headlines across the country and lead stories on television newscasts. Later it was ranked among the top news stories of 1964.

  • During the 40 years that have elapsed since that report, individual citizens, private organizations, public agencies, and elected officials have pursued the Advisory Committee's call for "appropriate remedial action." Early on, the U.S. Congress adopted the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 and the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969. These laws required a health warning on cigarette packages, banned cigarette advertising in the broadcasting media, and called for an annual report on the health consequences of smoking.

  • In 1964, the Public Health Service established a small unit called the National Clearinghouse for Smoking and Health (NCSH). Through the years, the Clearinghouse and its successor organization, the Office on Smoking and Health, have been responsible for 27 reports on the health consequences of smoking. In close cooperation with voluntary health organizations, the Public Health Service has supported highly successful state and community programs to reduce tobacco use, has disseminated research findings related to tobacco use, and has ensured the continued public visibility of antismoking messages.

  • Throughout this period, we have witnessed expansion in scientific knowledge of the health hazards of smoking and the benefits of quitting, growing public knowledge of the dangers of active smoking and breathing environmental tobacco smoke, increased availability of programs to prevent young people from starting to smoke and to help smokers quit, and widespread adoption of policies that discourage use of tobacco. The benefits of comprehensive approaches to tobacco use have been well documented.

  • Within this evolving social milieu, the population has been giving up smoking in increasing numbers. Nearly half of all living adults who ever smoked have quit.

  • The antismoking campaign has been a major public health success. Those who have participated in this campaign can take pride in the progress that has been made. This achievement has few parallels in the history of public health. It was accomplished despite the addictive nature of tobacco and the powerful economic forces promoting its use.

  • However, 46.2 million Americans still smoke, 8.6 million become ill each year, and 440,000 die each year as a result of tobacco use. Thus, efforts to implement proven interventions must be continued and expanded.

January 11, 2004 Marks the 40th Anniversary of the Inaugural Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health

This material was compiled by the Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updated January 2004



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This page last reviewed January 26, 2005

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