Jan. 11 Marks 40th Anniversary of Surgeon Generals Report Linking Smoking and Lung Cancer

Author of Avoiding Lung Cancer" recounts progress made since the 1964 release of surgeon generals report on smoking and lung cancer, but warns that 50 million Americans still are smokers exposed to dangers of tobacco use.

ATLANTA, GA (PRWEB) January 13, 2004 --Forty years ago, on Jan. 11, 1964, a Saturday seven weeks after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the surgeon general of the United States announced that smoking had been linked to lung cancer and other diseases.

Luther Terry issued that first surgeon general's report on smoking and health, which connected cigarette smoking with lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema. Back then, 43 percent of adult Americans smoked, annually consuming more than 4,000 cigarettes per person.

The tobacco industry immediately disputed the surgeon generals 387-page report, citing findings by the Tobacco Institute, a now defunct organization that it had created. The Tobacco Institute pointed out that efforts to cause human-type lung cancer in animals through inhalation of tobacco smoke had consistently failed.

In 1965, the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act required that a warning message from the surgeon general be printed on cigarette packs for the first time. Six years later, in 1971, advertisements for cigarettes were banned from radio and television broadcasts.

In 1973, the government began requiring nonsmoking sections in airplanes. Airlines later banning smoking altogether on flights.

In 1988, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop concluded for the first time that nicotine was an addictive drug.

In 1994, executives of the seven largest U.S. tobacco companies swore in congressional testimony that nicotine was not addictive and denied manipulating nicotine levels in cigarettes. It was later discovered that tobacco companies had known about the dangers of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine well before the surgeon general did. Six months before the original 1964 surgeon generals report was issued, a Brown and Williamson executive had written, "We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug."

In 1997, the tobacco industry made a landmark settlement with the U.S. government, promising to spend nearly $400 billion on anti-smoking campaigns over subsequent decades in exchange for federal protection from lawsuits.

The tobacco industry a year later, in 1998, entered into the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). Through it, tobacco companies agreed to pay 46 states $206 billion over 25 years to help them recover tobacco-related health care costs. Four states settled their lawsuits separately for about $40 billion over 25 years.

Today, smoking among American adults has fallen to 23 percent of the adult population, about 50 million people. Most of those—70 percent, or 35 million—want to quit. Lung cancer death rates among men have been declining two percent per year since 1991 as more males quit. Many cities and counties now ban smoking in public places. Increased tobacco prices discourage consumption—its estimated that for every 10-cent increase in cigarette prices, theres a four percent drop in consumption.

But the picture is far from perfect. While the rate of smoking has dropped by half from 1964, it is currently estimated to cost the United States economy about $75 billion in direct medical costs and $82 billion in lost productivity annually. Smoking remains the nations leading cause of preventable death. As many women as men now smoke. Tobacco companies still spend $11 billion annually to promote smoking, about 20 times as much as states spend to discourage smoking.

Further, most states are squandering their tobacco settlement money on just about everything but smoking prevention. Only four states—Maine, Delaware, Mississippi and Arkansas—fund tobacco control programs at the 25 percent of settlement money recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. And more than two million young people each year pick up their first cigarette, leading to more than 700,000 new regular smokers being hooked annually. Research indicates it takes only three cigarettes to become addicted to nicotine.

"In 1964, smoking was accepted and allowed almost everywhere including in workplaces, airplanes, restaurants, bars and movie theaters," says Noel Griese, author of Avoiding Lung Cancer" and "Conquering Cancer: Progress in 2003."

"The surgeon general's report began to open America's eyes to the dangers of smoking," he said. "It was the start of a steady decrease in the number of Americans who smoke. However, we need to do a lot more. Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women."

The surgeon general's 1964 report on smoking and health for the first time demonstrated a clear link between tobacco use and cancer death," says Griese, who is also the editor of Lung Cancer Update" newsletter and a past state director of both the American Lung Association and American Cancer Society. Numerous studies since have supported the causal connection, as well as the addictive nature of smoking,"

More than 440,000 Americans still die from smoking-related illnesses including lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema each year. "Much has changed since 1964, except the fact that smoking still kills," he said.

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Avoiding Lung Cancer" by Noel L. Griese, Anvil Publishers Inc., Atlanta, GA, ISBN 0-9704975-3-9 (pbk-$12.95); ISBN 0-9704975-6-3 (eBook, $10.95); ISBN 0-9704975-7-1 (casebound, $24.95).