What Are the Risks of Smoking

Before Dr. Luther L. Terry, then the Surgeon General of the United States,

issued his office's first "Report on Smoking and Health" more than 30 years

ago, thousands of articles had already been written on the effects of tobacco

use on the human body.
Tobacco companies had countered the reports--which purported to show

links between smoking and cancer and other serious diseases--with denials

and competing studies.
So in 1964, Terry and his Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health knew

they were stepping into a major pit of controversy when they announced

"cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United

States to warrant appropriate remedial action".
It was America's first widely publicized acknowledgment that smoking

cigarettes is a cause of serious diseases.
But the issue wasn't settled in 1964, nor is it settled in 1997, despite literally

thousands more studies--and litigation that has forced at least one tobacco

company to admit what some activists say they knew all along: cigarette

smoke is hazardous to your health.
More than 30 years--and more than 20 Surgeon General reports--later, the

issue appears headed for settlement in the courtroom rather than the

laboratory.