On Jan. 11, 1964, the Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health showed that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer and is linked to other serious diseases.
It's a date celebrated by the President and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Yolonda Richardson.
"The report when it was released was seminal in nature because, for the first time, we had all of the science brought together to document the ill health that is caused from tobacco smoke, from tobacco products, and specifically from smoking," Richardson told FOX17. "So we consider that report to be majorly impactful, both in the United States and around the world. And, you know, it resulted in us all having to sort of take a look at what we should be doing to prevent tobacco consumption. So it was an important catalyzing event for the public health community, and it's led to an incredible public health success story."
According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, smoking rates among adults have dropped by 73% since 1965, and 90% among high school students since the 90s.
The numbers are not all positive, though. TheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention numbers show that tobacco use remains the number one cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. killing more than 480,000 people a year, and costing the country $240 billion in healthcare expenditures each year.
"I think we've been very successful in crafting the messages so that people understand the harms of tobacco consumption, and are particularly committed to addressing smoking among young people," Richardson said. "You can't name a parent who wants their kid to smoke. Even smokers who are parents don't want their kids to smoke. And 70% of the smokers who do smoke want to quit. So I think that's an amazing progress. But we don't want to take our eye off the ball. We want to continue to move to have public policy passed that makes it as difficult as possible for people to consume tobacco products."
The product on their radar now is electronic cigarettes, which Richardson says is just as harmful as smoking.
"We have to take the same, really vigilant approach that we took with smoking and making sure that the public understands the harms associated with vaping. I think people think that it's a less harmful product," Richardson told us. "But the fact of the matter is for young kids, and that's usually when most people start to consume tobacco products. It [vaping] is incredibly damaging to brain brain development. So kids should not be vaping. The science is very clear on that, and there's no ambiguity about that whatsoever."
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has volunteer opportunities if you'd like to join the fight against tobacco products. Teens looking to become advocates within their own communities can get involved by heading to their website.
