More action is still needed to end tobacco smoking in Australia
Fifty years ago, on 11 January 1964, the United States Government released the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health.1 It “hit the country like a bombshell”,2 and massive global media coverage followed. While it contained nothing new, as it followed the 1962 report of the Royal College of Physicians,3 a very distinguished committee had brought together the best evidence then available. The Age (Melbourne) editorialised:
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- 1. United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Smoking and health: report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. PHS Publication No. 1103. Washington, DC: US DoHEW, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, 1964.
- 2. Terry LL. The Surgeon General’s first report on smoking and health: a challenge to the medical profession. New York State J Med 1983; 83: 1254-1255.
- 3. Smoking and health. A report of The Royal College of Physicians of London on smoking in relation to cancer of the lung and other diseases. London: Pitman Medical Publishing, 1962. http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/sites/default/files/smoking-and-health-1962.pdf (accessed Dec 2013).
- 4. Smoking report a warning. The Age (Melbourne) 1964; 13 Jan: 2.
- 5. Woodward SD. Trends in cigarette consumption in Australia. Aust N Z J Med 1984; 14: 405-407.
- 6. Smith D, Leggat P. The historical decline of tobacco smoking among Australian physicians: 1964–1997. Tob Induc Dis 2008; 4: 1-9.
- 7. Parliament of Australia. Senate Hansard. Vol. 10, 4 March 1964: 179-180.
- 8. Parliament of Australia. House Hansard. Vol. 11, 11 March 1964: 513.
- 9. Parliament of Australia. Senate Hansard. Vol. 17, 21 April 1964: 743.
- 10. Parliament of Australia. Senate Hansard. Vol. 10, 5 March 1964: 227-233.
- 11. Parliament of Australia. House Hansard. Vol. 12, 19 March 1964: 656.
- 12. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Health Survey: updated results, 2011–2012. Canberra: ABS, 2013. (ABS Cat. No. 4364.0.55.003.) http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4364.0.55.003 (accessed Nov 2013).
- 13. White V, Bariola E. Australian secondary school students’ use of tobacco, alcohol, and over-the-counter and illicit substances in 2011. Report prepared for the Drug Strategy Branch, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Melbourne: Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria, 2012.
I am President of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health.