Thursday, January 11, 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health, which found that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer and is linked to other serious diseases. Yolonda Richardson is President and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. She discusses the importance of that report.
Richardson says in addition to notifying the public about harm and putting policy makers on notice to do more, the report resulted in significant changes. Since 1964, the U.S. has seen a 73% decline in the number of adult smokers and a 90% decline in youth smoking.
46 million U.S. adults and 2.8 million use tobacco products. For more information, visit tobacco free kids dot org.
Advocates are working to ban all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.
