Something about smoking: Today 58 years, a first - time report changed something forever

On January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, the U.S. Public Health Service General surgeon, released the first report of the General Surgery Consultative Committee on Tobacco and Health.

On the basis of more than 7,000 articles on tobacco and diseases already available at the time in biomedical literature, the Consultative Committee concluded that smoking is responsible for male lung cancer and larynx cancer, a possible cause of female lung cancer, and the most important cause of chronic bronze.

In the report's introduction, Terry wrote that “dyra has been the most difficult” and “theme is complicated”.

Just a year after the report's initial publication, Congress approved the 1965 Federal Act of Efficiency and Tygars advertising, which required early warning labels in cigarette packages.

The law has been followed by numerous anti-smoking measures over the past four decades, including the latest wave of smoking bans in closed public areas approved at the state level.

In September 1965, the Public Health Service established a small facility called the National Cleanup House for Tobacco and Health, which along with its successor organisation, the Office of the Centers for Control and Prevention of Tobacco and Health Diseases, has been responsible for 29 reports on the health consequences of smoking.

By contrast, in the 1960s, smoking was an important part of American culture, and the tobacco industry was an important part of the economy. In the polls, 52% of American men and 35% of American women were active smokers.