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It's hard to believe that there was a time, not so long ago, to make people believe that smoking was safe – it could even be "refreshing" for your lungs.
In the 30s and 50s, advertisers used the slogan "Doctors recommend!
They even paid doctors for them to appear in advertisements to rebadure people that doctors are encouraging smoking.
As doctors can smoke too! Many doctors / actors were well paid; not with money, but with cartons of durries.
It did not matter if the cigarette made you cough.
No, it's not the fault of the cigarettes, it's just the dust in your house or the pesky germs floating around.
Some people have perceived smoking as a little more than a phase that most people go through, a ritual of "growing up," a rite of pbadage that can last a lifetime.
It was not until January 11, 1964, that the public became aware of true history through a definitive report linking smoking to lung cancer.
The US Surgeon General, Luther Terry, wrote a 150,000-word report containing the findings of ten scientists (five of whom were smokers).
The message was direct: stop smoking.
And yet, 54 years later, the global battle to educate smokers continues to burn slowly.
THE TERRY REPORT
The 1964 report of the Surgeon General, also known as the Terry Report, or his official name, "Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the General Surgeon", had been deemed so upsetting that it had been decided to publish it on a Saturday and not during the week, because of fears that its findings could affect the stock market.
At the time of reporting in the United States, 42% of adult men were smokers.
According to the Terry report: "Compared to nonsmokers, male cigarette smokers have an average risk of lung cancer multiplied by 9 to 10, and a risk of multiplication by at least 20 for heavy smokers."
According to the report, smoking was responsible for a 70% increase in the mortality rate of smokers compared to non-smokers.
Smoking has been officially designated as the leading cause of chronic bronchitis, also highlighting a link between smoking and emphysema, smoking and coronary heart disease.
He noted that smoking during pregnancy reduces the average weight of newborns.
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One question remained somewhat dubious – that of nicotine addiction.
The report insists that "the habit of smoking should be described as habituation rather than dependence," mainly because the addictive properties of nicotine have not yet been well understood.
There were also differences of opinion on the definition of dependence.
But one thing was sure: the impact of the report was overwhelming and had resulted in health warnings that were printed on cigarette packages.
However, it was not until September 1970 that all advertising on cigarettes was banned.
The Terry report, along with the other reports that followed, had a considerable impact, with the percentage of American smokers running away from 42% in 1964 to about 18% today.
One report states that this decline has prevented eight million deaths.
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MY PHYSICIAN SMOKE, THAT MUST BE OK!
By the early 1950s, the public was increasingly worried about the health risks of tobacco, which led advertising agencies to find new ways to reach their target.
What better way to rebadure people about smoking is perfectly safe than to call a doctor during the advertising campaign!
Whoever saw Mad Men will be aware of the pilot episode when advertising officials will have to explain to the tobacco company's client that they are not allowed to advertise that their product is safe.
Instead, they had to find other ways to present their products to the public without any mention of illness or death.
This is what really happened: In 1946, the tobacco company RJ Reynolds launched an advertising campaign for the Camel brand of cigarettes, using the slogan "More doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette".
RJ Reynolds claimed to have conducted a survey of 113,597 physicians who said that Camel was the choice of most respondents.
But this survey was anything but independent – it was done by the advertising agency RJ Reynolds, whose staff had interviewed doctors about their own smoking habits after receiving free camel cartridges.
FIRST STUDIES
In the early 1950s, research had shown that smoking was the cause of life-threatening diseases and various diseases, but cigarette manufacturers were offended – calling these preliminary studies "inconclusive".
Then, manufacturers have come up with a new way to appease those who are afraid of smoking – using filters, the nasty toxins never reach the smoker.
People have actually bought this story, but when you're addicted, you end up with just about anything to justify your habit.
Dr. Anthony Komaroff, a young medical student at the time of the release of the Terry report, explained that the impact of this report was corroborated by his experience in the dissection of cadavers.
"The lungs of non-smokers were pink. The lungs of the heavy smokers were black. It did not look healthy, and the general surgeon confirmed that was not the case, "said Dr. Komaroff.
"I also remember the impression that the report had on my mother, who had been smoking for many years,
"She was not seduced by science or the weight of the evidence. Instead, she was impressed by the fact that the American "best doctor" is advising her and others like her to stop smoking. "
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In the United Kingdom, research had been ongoing since 1949 when Bradford Hill, epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and researcher Richard Doll of the Medical Research Council, joined forces to study the history of lung cancer patients.
They found that out of 649 lung cancer patients, only two were not smokers.
When doctors extended their research to 5,000 people, they achieved the same results. Doll, described by the British Medical Journal as "perhaps the most prominent doctor in Britain," would have immediately quit.
In 1951, Doll and Hill contacted 59,600 doctors investigating their own smoking and then published the results deemed so important that 50 years later, the British Medical Journal had recently reprinted the first page of this report.
In 1956, the link was undeniable: Doll and Hill continued their work and discovered that more than 200 heavy smokers had died in four years.
This led the Royal College of the United Kingdom to recommend higher taxes, a restriction on the sale of cigarettes to children, a restriction on advertising, smoking in public places and information on tar and nicotine content. .
For the first time in ten years, cigarette sales have dropped.
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WHAT WE KNOW TODAY & # 39; HUI
There is no doubt that smoking can cause cancer and prevent your body from fighting it. According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, poisons in cigarette smoke can weaken the body's immune system and make it more difficult to kill cancer cells.
This means that cancer cells continue to grow without being stopped.
Poisons in tobacco smoke can damage or alter a cell's DNA, and when that DNA is damaged, a cell can start to grow out of control and create a tumor.
The risk of lung cancer is higher today for smokers than in 1964, even though they smoke fewer cigarettes, because of changes in the manufacturing methods of cigarettes and chemicals currently in use.
According to the World Health Organization, there are 1.1 billion smokers, with the tobacco epidemic being one of the biggest threats to public health, killing more than 7 million people per year.
Direct smoking has caused more than 6 million deaths, and about 890,000 are non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.
In 2004, children accounted for 28% of deaths attributable to second-hand smoke. About 80% of smokers live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illnesses and deaths is highest.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Children conducted a survey in 22 countries and found that cigarettes are sold near schools with the aim of recruiting youth to replace them.
Some of the tactics used include placing cigarettes near pacifiers or soft drinks, or at the child's eye level.
But even today, millions of people do not understand the message or are still struggling to quit.
– LJ Charleston is a freelance journalist. Follow her on Twitter @LJCharleston
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