The Reports of the Surgeon General
Brief History
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1912 --The Marine Hospital Service is reorganized as the U.S. Public Health Service
1913 --R. J. Reynolds launches Camel, the first modern mass-produced cigarette made from blended tobacco
1917 --Cigarettes are included in the field rations of American soldiers in World War I
1928 --Herbert L. Lombard and Carl R. Doering offer the first detailed statistical data showing a higher proportion of
heavy smokers among lung cancer patients than among controls
1929 --U.S. Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming (1920-1936) cautions that smoking causes nervousness and
insomnia, particularly among women
1938 --Raymond Pearl demonstrates statistically that smoking shortens life expectancy
1941-45 --Tobacco is supplied to American servicemen in World War II
1942 --In-vitro experiments establish that tars, solid particles of partially burnt tobacco, can act directly on cells to
produce neoplasm, or new and abnormal growth
1953 --Ernest Wynder, a researcher at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, paints smoke condensate on the skin of mice,
producing cancerous tumors in 44 percent of the animals
1957 --Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney (1956-1961) declares it to be the official position of the U.S. Public Health
Service that a causal relationship exists between smoking and lung cancer (June 12)
1964 --Surgeon General Luther L. Terry (1961-1965) issues Smoking and Health, the first Surgeon General's report
to receive widespread media and public attention (January 11)
1965 --Congress mandates health warnings on cigarette packs
1957 --Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney (1956-1961) declares it to be the official position of the U.S. Public Health
Service that a causal relationship exists between smoking and lung cancer (June 12)
1968 --The Office of the Surgeon General is abolished and the position becomes that of an advisor to the Secretary
of Health, Education, and Welfare, and to the Assistant Secretary of Health. The Surgeon General no longer directly
administers the U.S. Public Health Service
1969 --The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act passes Congress. It imposes a ban on cigarette advertising on
television and radio after September 30, 1970, and requires that the Surgeon General produce an annual report on
the latest scientific findings on the health effects of smoking
1973 --Arizona passes the first state law designating separate smoking areas in public places
1979 --Surgeon General Julius B. Richmond issues Healthy People: The Surgeon General's Report on Health
Promotion and Disease Prevention, emphasizing the role of nutrition, exercise, environmental factors, and
occupational safety in advancing health
1980 --With the report Maternal and Infant Health, the Surgeon General takes up a subject that has been a focus of
federal social policy since the creation of the Children's Bureau in 1912
1981 --Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is first diagnosed
1983 --Lung cancer surpasses breast cancer as the leading cause of death from cancer in women
1986 --Surgeon General C. Everett Koop (1981-89) releases The Surgeon General's Report on Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome, describing AIDS as a preventable, manageable chronic disease
1987 --The Office of the Surgeon General is reestablished with the Surgeon General as supervisor of the personnel
system of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service
1987 --Congress bans smoking on all domestic flights of two hours or less; two years later smoking is banned on all
domestic flights
1992 --The Environmental Protection Agency places passive smoke on its list of major carcinogens, making it subject
to federal workplace and other regulations