U.S. smoking warning made history, saved lives

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health, health experts are pushing for even more to be done to keep people tobacco-free.  Since the release of the original report in 1964, the smoking rate in the U.S. has decreased by 59% and some areas have even banned smoking in public.

As Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says, “The 50th anniversary of the Surgeon General report should be a catalyst to say, ‘We can’t wait another 50 years to end death and disease caused by smoking.’”  While we’ve come a long way, the CDC says that almost 42 million people still smoke.  Additionally, over 3,000 teens still try tobacco each day, according to Robin Koval of the anti-smoking advocacy group Legacy.  It’s a problem that the tobacco industry continues to spend billions on each year to recruit smokers, while trying to downplay the negative health effects of smoking and even aiming some of the marketing at children.

Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the Surgeon General’s report was the first time the government publicly said, “No. there is no doubt that smoking causes cancer.”  A 1986 report was also groundbreaking because it stated that secondhand smoke was just as bad for you.  Yet, improvements made by the tobacco industry, such as tweaking cigarettes so they don’t cause smokers to cough as much and adding menthol flavoring to freshen breath, continue to make cigarettes more attractive to our youth.  As Myers puts it, “Fifty years later, cigarettes look sleeker, but they are no safer.”  We’ve certain come a long way, but experts say there’s still more to be done when it comes to the fight against tobacco.

USA Today, 1/8/14