1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health

On January 11, 1964, Surgeon General Luther Terry released the report of his Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, choosing a Saturday deliberately to minimize the effect on the stock market and maximize coverage in the Sunday papers. The report held cigarette smoking responsible for a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate of smokers over non-smokers, and found that average smokers carried a nine- to ten-fold risk of developing lung cancer compared with non-smokers, with heavy smokers facing at least a twenty-fold risk. Terry later recalled that the report hit the country like a bombshell, and it reshaped public opinion rapidly: a 1958 Gallup survey had found only 44 percent of Americans believed smoking caused cancer, a figure that had risen to 78 percent by 1968. It led directly to the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965, mandating Surgeon General warnings on cigarette packages, and to the 1970 ban on cigarette advertising on television and radio.