e Health Consequences
of Smoking—50 Years of Progress
A Report of the Surgeon General
Executive Summary
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Smoking —50 Years of Progress
A Report of the Surgeon General
Executive Summary
2014
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Public Health Service
Office of the Surgeon General
Rockville, MD
Suggested Citation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years
of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.
For more information
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of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Message from Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Fifty years after the release of the first Surgeon General’s report warning of the health hazards
of smoking, we have learned how to end the tobacco epidemic. Over the past five decades, scientists,
researchers and policy makers have determined what works, and what steps must be taken if we truly
want to bring to a close one of our nation’s most tragic battles—one that has killed ten times the num-
ber of Americans who died in all of our nation’s wars combined.
In the United States, successes in tobacco control have more than halved smoking rates since the
1964 landmark Surgeon General’s report came out. Americans’ collective view of smoking has been
transformed from an accepted national pastime to a discouraged threat to individual and public health.
Strong policies have largely driven cigarette smoking out of public view and public air space. Thanks to
smokefree laws, no longer is smoking allowed on airplanes or in a growing number of restaurants, bars,
college campuses and government buildings.
Evidence in this new report shows tobacco’s continued, immense burden to our nation—and how
essential ending the tobacco epidemic is to our work to increase the life expectancy and quality of life of
all Americans. This year alone, nearly one-half million adults will still die prematurely because of smok-
ing. Annually, the total economic costs due to tobacco are now over $289 billion. And if we continue
on our current trajectory, 5.6 million children alive today who are younger than 18 years of age will die
prematurely as a result of smoking.
I believe that we can make the next generation tobacco-free. And I am extremely proud of the
Obama Administration’s tobacco-control record. For example, the 2009 Children’s Health Insurance
Program Reauthorization Act included an unprecedented $0.62 tax increase that raised the federal
excise tax to $1.01 per pack of cigarettes; we know that increasing the cost of cigarettes is one of the
most powerful interventions we can make to prevent smoking and reduce prevalence. Building on
this knowledge, the President’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget includes a $0.94 per pack Federal tobacco tax
increase. For the first time in history, the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
(Tobacco Control Act) gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration comprehensive authority to regu-
late tobacco products, which will play a critical role in reducing the harm caused by these products.
The Tobacco Control Act also provided for user fees to be paid by tobacco manufacturers that can sup-
port sustained public education media campaigns targeting youth prevention and cessation. The 2010
Affordable Care Act (ACA) expands access to smoking cessation services and now requires most insur-
ance companies to cover cessation treatments. The Affordable Care Act’s Public Health and Prevention
Fund is supporting innovative and effective community-based programs as well as public education
campaigns promoting prevention and helping people to quit.
All of these tobacco control interventions are known to reduce tobacco use and, as a result,
tobacco’s extraordinary toll of death and disease. But in order to free the next generation from these
burdens, we must redouble our tobacco control efforts and enlist nongovernmental partners—and
society as a whole—to share in this responsibility. Ending the devastation of tobacco-related illness and
death is not in the jurisdiction of any one entity. We must all share in this most worthwhile effort to
end the tobacco epidemic.
Message from Howard Koh
Assistant Secretary for Health
The nation stands poised at the crossroads of tobacco control. On one hand, we can celebrate
tremendous progress 50 years after the landmark 1964 Surgeon General’s report: Smoking and Health.
Adult smoking rates have fallen from about 43% (1965) to about 18% today. Mortality rates from lung
cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in this country, are declining. Most smokers visiting health
care settings are now routinely asked and advised about tobacco use. On the other hand, cigarette
smoking remains the chief preventable killer in America, with more than 40 million Americans caught
in a web of tobacco dependence. Each day, more than 3,200 youth (younger than 18 years of age) smoke
their first cigarette and another 2,100 youth and young adults who are occasional smokers progress to
become daily smokers. Furthermore, the range of emerging tobacco products complicates the current
public health landscape.
In this context, the 50th Anniversary of the Surgeon General’s report prompts us to pause and
ask why this addiction persists when proven interventions can eliminate it. Of great concern, too many
in our nation assume that past success in tobacco control guarantees future progress; nothing can be
further from the truth. To rejuvenate and reinvigorate national efforts, in 2010, the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services unveiled its first ever strategic plan for tobacco control. Ending the
Tobacco Epidemic: A Tobacco Control Strategic Action Plan provides a critical framework to guide
efforts to rapidly drop prevalence rates of smoking among youth and adults. A major foundation and
pillar of the plan is to encourage and promote leadership throughout all sectors of society. Now, this
current 2014 Surgeon General’s report can accelerate that leadership to fully implement the life-saving
prevention that can make the next generation free of tobacco-related death and disease.
We have many tools that we know work. A comprehensive public policy approach emphasizing
mass media campaigns to encourage prevention and quit attempts, smokefree policies, restrictions on
youth access to tobacco products, and price increases can collectively drive further meaningful reduc-
tions in tobacco use. Furthermore, we can accelerate progress through full commitment to clinical
and public health advances; including the widespread use of telephone quit lines and science-based
counseling and medications for tobacco users. Promoting progress today also requires recognizing that
tobacco use has evolved from being an equal-opportunity killer to one threatening the most vulnerable
members of our society. We must confront, and reverse, the tragically higher tobacco use rates that
threaten persons of low socioeconomic status, sexual minorities, high school dropouts, some racial/
ethnic minority groups, and those living with mental illness and substance use disorders.
Of all the accomplishments of the 20th century, historians rank the 1964 Surgeon General’s
report as one of the seminal public health achievements of our time. Armed with both science and
resolve, we can continue to honor the legacy of the report by completing the work it began in the last
century. The current 2014 Surgeon General’s report represents a national vision for getting the job
done. With strategy, commitment, and action, our nation can leave the crossroads and move forward to
end the tobacco epidemic once and for all.
i
Foreword
Fifty years have passed since publication of the landmark report of the Surgeon General’s
Advisory Committee on smoking and health. This report highlights both the dramatic progress
our nation has made reducing tobacco use and the continuing burden of disease and death caused
by smoking.
As a physician, when I think about smoking, I recall the patients I have cared for. The man who
had a leg amputated. The woman who had to gasp for every single breath that she took. The man with
heart disease who hoped to see his son graduate, but didn’t live long enough to do so. That’s the reality
of smoking that health care providers see every day.
The prevalence of current cigarette smoking among adults has declined from 42% in 1965 to 18%
in 2012. However, more than 42 million Americans still smoke. Tobacco has killed more than 20 million
people prematurely since the first Surgeon General’s report in 1964. The findings in this report show
that the decline in the prevalence of smoking has slowed in recent years and that burden of smoking-
attributable mortality is expected to remain at high and unacceptable levels for decades to come unless
urgent action is taken.
Recent surveys monitoring trends in tobacco use indicate that more people are using multiple
tobacco products, particularly youth and young adults. The percentage of U.S. middle and high school
students who use electronic, or e-cigarettes, more than doubled between 2011 and 2012. We need to
monitor patterns of use of an increasingly wide array of tobacco products across all of the diverse seg-
ments of our society, particularly because the tobacco industry continues to introduce and market new
products that establish and maintain nicotine addiction.
Tobacco control efforts need to not only address the general population, but also to focus on
populations with a higher prevalence of tobacco use and lower rates of quitting. These populations
include people from some racial/ethnic minority groups, people with mental illness, lower educational
levels and socioeconomic status, and certain regions of the country. We now have proven interventions
and policies to reduce tobacco initiation and use among youth and adults.
With intense use of proven interventions, we can save lives and reduce health care costs. In 2012,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched the first-ever paid national tobacco
education campaign — Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) — to raise awareness of the harms to health
caused by smoking, encourage smokers to quit, and encourage nonsmokers to protect themselves and
their families from exposure to secondhand smoke. It pulled back the curtain in a way that numbers
alone cannot, and showed the tobacco-caused tragedies that we as health care professionals see and
are saddened by every day. As a result of this campaign, an estimated 1.6 million smokers made an
attempt to quit and, based on a conservative estimate, at least 100,000 smokers quit for good. Addition-
ally, millions of nonsmokers talked with friends and family about the dangers of smoking and referred
smokers to quit services. In 2013, CDC launched a new round of advertisements that helped even more
people quit smoking by highlighting the toll that smoking-related illnesses take on smokers and their
loved ones.
CDC has also established reducing tobacco use as one of its “Winnable Battles.” These are public
health priorities with large-scale impact on health that have proven effective strategies to address them.
CDC believes that with additional effort and support for evidence-based, cost-effective policy and pro-
gram strategies to reduce tobacco use, we can reduce smoking substantially, prevent millions of people
from being killed by tobacco, and protect future generations from smoking.
ii
While we have made tremendous progress over the past 50 years, sustained and comprehensive
efforts are needed to prevent more people from having to suffer the pain, disability, disfigurement, and
death that smoking causes. Most Americans who have ever smoked have already quit, and most smokers
who still smoke want to quit. If we continue to implement tobacco prevention and cessation strategies
that have proven effective in reducing tobacco use, people throughout our country will live longer,
healthier, more productive lives.
Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
iii
Preface
from the Acting Surgeon General,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
On January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, M.D., the 9th Surgeon General of the United States, released
the first report on the health consequences of smoking: Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory
Committee of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. That report marked a major step to
reduce the adverse impact of tobacco use on health worldwide.
Over the past 50 years, 31 Surgeon General’s reports have utilized the best available evidence to
expand our understanding of the health consequences of smoking and involuntary exposure to tobacco
smoke. The conclusions from these reports have evolved from a few causal associations in 1964 to a
robust body of evidence documenting the health consequences from both active smoking and exposure
to secondhand smoke across a range of diseases and organ systems.
The 2004 report concluded that smoking affects nearly every organ of the body, and the evidence
in this report provides even more support for that finding. A half century after the release of the first
report, we continue to add to the long list of diseases caused by tobacco use and exposure to tobacco
smoke. This report finds that active smoking is now causally associated with age-related macular
degeneration, diabetes, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, adverse health outcomes in cancer patients and
survivors, tuberculosis, erectile dysfunction, orofacial clefts in infants, ectopic pregnancy, rheumatoid
arthritis, inflammation, and impaired immune function. In addition, exposure to secondhand smoke
has now been causally associated with an increased risk for stroke.
Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of premature disease and death in the United
States. The science contained in this and prior Surgeon General’s reports provide all the information
we need to save future generations from the burden of premature disease caused by tobacco use. How-
ever, evidence-based interventions that encourage quitting and prevent youth smoking continue to
be underutilized. This report strengthens our resolve to work together to accelerate and sustain what
works—such as hard-hitting media campaigns, smokefree air policies, optimal tobacco excise taxes,
barrier-free cessation treatment, and comprehensive statewide tobacco control programs funded at
CDC-recommended levels. At the same time, we will explore “end game” strategies that support the
goal of eliminating tobacco smoking, including greater restrictions on sales. It is my sincere hope that
50 years from now we won’t need another Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health, because
tobacco-related disease and death will be a thing of the past. Working together, we can make that vision
a reality.
Boris D. Lushniak, M.D., M.P.H.
Rear Admiral, U.S. Public Health Service
Acting Surgeon General
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 1
Overview
other conditions caused by parental smoking, particularly
smoking by the mother.
Table 1 Premature deaths caused by smoking and
exposure to secondhand smoke, 1965–2014
Cause of death Total
Smoking-related cancers 6,587,000
Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases 7,787,000
Pulmonary diseases 3,804,000
Conditions related to pregnancy and birth 108,000
Residential fires 86,000
Lung cancers caused by exposure to
secondhand smoke
263,000
Coronary heart disease caused by exposure to
secondhand smoke
2,194,000
Total 20,830,000
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,
Office on Smoking and Health, unpublished data.
As these figures illustrate, the harms caused by the
historic patterns of tobacco use in the United States, and
especially by cigarette smoking, are staggering. More than
10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from
cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought
by the United States during its history. Study after study
has confirmed the magnitude of the harm caused to the
human body by exposure to toxicants and carcinogens
found in tobacco smoke. Since 1964, the 31 previous Sur-
geon General’s reports have chronicled a still growing
but already conclusive body of evidence about the adverse
impact of tobacco use on human cells and organs and on
overall health. Health statistics show that all populations
are affected.
Previous Surgeon General’s reports have tracked
the evolution of cigarettes into the current highly engi-
neered, addictive, and deadly products containing thou-
sands of chemicals that are harmful in themselves, but
the burning of tobacco produces the complex chemical
mixture of more than 7,000 compounds that cause a wide
range of diseases and premature deaths as a result (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS]
2010). Although the prevalence of smoking has declined
significantly over the past one-half century, the risks for
smoking-related disease and mortality have not. In fact,
today’s cigarette smokers—both men and women—have a
much higher risk for lung cancer and chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) than smokers in 1964, despite
smoking fewer cigarettes (see Chapters 6, 7, and 11, and
Figure 12.2 and Figure 13.16).
The 2004 Surgeon General’s report showed that
smoking impacts nearly every organ of the body (USD-
HHS 2004). The 2006 report concluded that the scientific
evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of expo-
sure to secondhand smoke (USDHHS 2006). The new evi-
dence in this report provides still more support for these
conclusions. Fifty years after the first report in 1964, it is
striking that the scientific evidence in this report expands
the list of diseases and other adverse health effects caused
by smoking and exposure of nonsmokers to tobacco
smoke. Figures 1.1A and 1.1B highlight these new find-
ings and show that the disease risks are even greater than
presented in previous reports. These new findings include:
• Liver cancer and colorectal cancer are added to the
long list of cancers caused by smoking;
For the United States, the epidemic of smoking-
caused disease in the twentieth century ranks among the
greatest public health catastrophes of the century, while
the decline of smoking consequent to tobacco control
is surely one of public health’s greatest successes.How-
ever, the current rate of progress in tobacco control is not
fast enough, and much more needs to be done to end the
tobacco epidemic. Unacceptably high levels of smoking-
attributable disease and death, and the associated costs,
will persist for decades without changes in our approach
to slowing and even ending the epidemic. If smoking
persists at the current rate among young adults in this
country, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than
18 years of age are projected to die prematurely from a
smoking-related illness (Chapter 12).
More than 20 million Americans have died as a
result of smoking since the first Surgeon General’s report
on smoking and health was released in 1964 (Table 1)
(Chapter 12). Most were adults with a history of smoking,
but nearly 2.5 million were nonsmokers who died from
heart disease or lung cancer caused by exposure to sec-
ondhand smoke. Another 100,000 were babies who died of
sudden infant death syndrome (often referred to as SIDS)
or complications from prematurity, low birth weight, or
Surgeon General’s Report
2 Executive Summary
• Exposure to secondhand smoke is a cause of stroke;
• Smoking increases the risk of dying from cancer and
other diseases in cancer patients and survivors;
• Smoking is a cause of diabetes mellitus; and
• Smoking causes general adverse effects on the body
including inflammation and it impairs immune
function. Smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthri-
tis.
Figure 1A The health consequences causally linked to smoking
Source: USDHHS 2004, 2006, 2012.
Note: The condition in red is a new disease that has been causally linked to smoking in this report.
Progress has been made in tobacco control. During
the 50 years since the 1964 report, approaches have moved
from single measures, such as small text-only pack warn-
ings, to implementing comprehensive control programs,
including indoor smoking bans, support for cessation,
restrictions on advertising and promotion, media cam-
paigns, and tax hikes to raise prices (Chapters 2 and 14).
Smoking rates have declined, as have mortality rates for
some diseases caused by smoking, such as heart disease
and lung cancer for which smoking is the major cause.
Nonetheless, between 2005–2009, smoking was
responsible for more than 480,000 premature deaths
annually among Americans 35 years of age and older
(Chapter 12). More than 87% of lung cancer deaths, 61%
of all pulmonary disease deaths, and 32% of all deaths
from coronary heart disease were attributable to smoking
and exposure to secondhand smoke. Additionally, if cur-
rent trends continue 5.6 million U.S. youth who are cur-
rently younger than 18 years of age will die prematurely
during adulthood from their smoking (Chapter 12).
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 3
Figure 1B The health consequences causally linked to exposure to secondhand smoke
Source: USDHHS 2004, 2006.
Note: The condition in red is a new disease that has been causally linked to smoking in this report.
Many of the findings in this report have particular
relevance to women who are current smokers. For the
first time ever, they are as likely as men to die from many
diseases caused by smoking (Chapter 12). The relative risk
for dying from coronary heart disease among women 35
years of age and older is now higher than for men. Because
the risks for women have increased so much in the last
decades, women who smoke now have about the same
high risk of death from lung cancer as men.
In addition to the impact that smoking has on health
and well-being, the nation pays enormous financial costs
because of smoking. Productivity losses from premature
death alone now exceed $150 billion per year (Chapter 12).
Additionally, the value of lost productivity due to prema-
ture deaths caused by exposure to secondhand smoke is
now estimated to be $5.6 billion per year. The annual costs
of direct medical care of adults attributable to smoking are
now estimated to be over $130 billion (Chapter 12).
This comprehensive report chronicles the dev-
astating consequences of 50 years of tobacco use in the
United States. It updates data on the numerous health
effects resulting from smoking and exposure to second-
hand smoke, and details public health trends, both favor-
able and unfavorable, in tobacco use. This report marks
the steady progress achieved in reducing the prevalence of
smoking and validates tobacco control strategies that have
consistently proven to be effective. It also examines strate-
gies with the potential to eradicate the death and disease
caused by the tobacco epidemic at long last, and identi-
fies specific measures that should be taken immediately to
move smoking off its decades-old number one spot as the
largest single cause of preventable death and disease for
the citizens of the United States. Finally, the report docu-
ments that effective interventions are available and calls
for their full implementation.
Surgeon General’s Report
4 Executive Summary
Major Conclusions from the Report
6. In addition to causing multiple diseases, cigarette
smoking has many adverse effects on the body, such
as causing inflammation and impairing immune
function.
7. Although cigarette smoking has declined signifi-
cantly since 1964, very large disparities in tobacco use
remain across groups defined by race, ethnicity, edu-
cational level, and socioeconomic status and across
regions of the country.
8. Since the 1964 Surgeon General’s report, compre-
hensive tobacco control programs and policies have
been proven effective for controlling tobacco use.
Further gains can be made with the full, forceful, and
sustained use of these measures.
9. The burden of death and disease from tobacco use in
the United States is overwhelmingly caused by ciga-
rettes and other combusted tobacco products; rapid
elimination of their use will dramatically reduce this
burden.
10. For 50 years the Surgeon General’s reports on smok-
ing and health have provided a critical scientific foun-
dation for public health action directed at reducing
tobacco use and preventing tobacco-related disease
and premature death.
1. The century-long epidemic of cigarette smoking has
caused an enormous avoidable public health tragedy.
Since the first Surgeon General’s report in 1964 more
than 20 million premature deaths can be attributed to
cigarette smoking.
2. The tobacco epidemic was initiated and has been
sustained by the aggressive strategies of the tobacco
industry, which has deliberately misled the public on
the risks of smoking cigarettes.
3. Since the 1964 Surgeon General’s report, cigarette
smoking has been causally linked to diseases of nearly
all organs of the body, to diminished health status,
and to harm to the fetus. Even 50 years after the
first Surgeon General’s report, research continues to
newly identify diseases caused by smoking, including
such common diseases as diabetes mellitus, rheuma-
toid arthritis, and colorectal cancer.
4. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke has been
causally linked to cancer, respiratory, and cardiovas-
cular diseases, and to adverse effects on the health of
infants and children.
5. The disease risks from smoking by women have risen
sharply over the last 50 years and are now equal to
those for men for lung cancer, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular diseases.
The 2014 Surgeon General’s report is presented in three sections:
Section 1: Historical Perspective, Overview, and Conclusions;
Section 2: The Health Consequences of Active and Passive Smoking: The Evidence in 2014; and
Section 3: Tracking and Ending the Epidemic.
The following is a summary of the contents of each section.
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 5
Section 1: Historical Perspective, Overview, and Conclusions
than others. In fact, rates of smoking among women actu-
ally increased in the years following the first Surgeon
General’s report.
During the decades that followed, however, a num-
ber of local, state, and federal laws and policies addressed
tobacco product marketing and advertising, labeling and
packaging, youth access, and exposure to secondhand
smoke. Social norms that had made smoking acceptable
everywhere began to change as a grassroots movement
aimed at protecting nonsmokers emerged. Surgeon Gen-
eral’s reports on the impact of tobacco use on specific
populations, the changing cigarette, nicotine addiction,
specific smoking-related diseases, and secondhand smoke
gave impetus to a steady movement away from smoking
as an acceptable social norm. The prevalence of smoking
among adults is now less than one-half of what it was in
1964, and the prevalence among youth is less than one-
half. A 2011 Gallup poll reported that for the first time, a
majority of Americans supported a ban on smoking in all
public places (Newport 2011).
The ongoing story of tobacco use covered in this
Surgeon General’s report illustrates the complexity and
dynamic nature of the issue. This report examines smok-
ing from a public health standpoint; as a cultural and
social phenomenon; as an extension of the tobacco indus-
try’s aggressive and fraudulent campaigns to mislead the
public on health hazards; and from legal, policy, and pub-
lic education perspectives.
When Dr. Luther L. Terry released the first Surgeon
General’s report on smoking and health in January 1964,
few could have anticipated the long-term impact it would
have on this nation’s health. The report reviewed more
than 7,000 research articles related to smoking and dis-
ease—the evidence considered dated to the early twenti-
eth century but most came from the wave of research that
started at mid-century. The initial report concluded that
smoking was associated with higher all-cause mortality
rates among men, was a cause of lung cancer and laryn-
geal cancer in men, was a probable cause of lung cancer
in women, and was the most important cause of bronchi-
tis (U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
1964). News coverage of the report was extensive, and the
release of the report was ranked among the top news sto-
ries of the twentieth century (USA Today 1999).
Nonetheless, public attitudes about smoking and its
adverse health effects were slow to change, and smoking
declined slowly after the report. In 1964, more than one-
half of men and nearly one-third of women were regular
smokers; it took approximately 15 years for rates of smok-
ing among men to drop by one-quarter or more (Chapter
2). The scientific evidence helped to launch public health
campaigns about the dangers of smoking. The tobacco
industry attempted to counter these campaigns through
aggressive advertising. It used a variety of tactics to cre-
ate doubt about the findings on smoking and health and
launched marketing strategies that obscured the dangers
of smoking by implying that certain cigarettes were safer
Section 2: The Health Consequences of Active and Passive
Smoking: The Evidence in 2014
1988). That conclusion has been repeatedly reaffirmed
in subsequent reports, and nicotine addiction figures
centrally in initiation and in the difficulty of cessation
(USDHHS 2010, 2012). Additionally, nicotine is a pharma-
cologically active agent that has acute toxicity and that
readily enters the body and is distributed throughout.
Beyond causing addiction, it activates multiple biologic
pathways that are relevant to fetal growth and develop-
ment, immune function, the cardiovascular system, the
central nervous system, and carcinogenesis. Nicotine
exposure during fetal development, a critical window
Since 1964, the evidence on smoking and health
has expanded greatly; the list of adverse consequences of
tobacco smoking has lengthened progressively; and since
the 1970s, scientific research has linked the inhalation of
secondhand smoke by nonsmokers to specific diseases and
other adverse effects. Even in this report, a half-century
following the first report, the evidence has been found
sufficient to infer further causal associations of active and
passive smoking with disease.
Nicotine and Addiction: Nicotine was found to be
addicting in the 1988 Surgeon General’s report (USDHHS
Surgeon General’s Report
6 Executive Summary
for the brain, has lasting adverse consequences for brain
development. Nicotine exposure during pregnancy also
contributes to adverse reproductive outcomes, such as
preterm birth and stillbirth.
Cancer: Lung cancer, the first of many deadly dis-
eases to be identified in a Surgeon General’s report as
being caused by smoking (Chapter 6), is now the nation’s
most common cancer killer among men and women. Two
studies carried out by the American Cancer Society have
been key sources of information on the risks of lung can-
cer in smokers. These two studies each followed more
than 1 million U.S. men and women, starting in 1959
for the first study and then again in 1982 for the second.
Results from these studies have now been compared with
data combined from several large populations followed
from 2000–2010 (Thun et al. 1997a,b, 2013). Although
the risk of lung cancer for never smokers in all three stud-
ies stayed about the same, the risk to smokers increased
steadily. Among women, risk of lung cancer went up dra-
matically. In the 1959 study, women smokers were 2.7
times more likely than women never smokers to develop
lung cancer; by 2000–2010 that additional risk for women
smokers had jumped nearly tenfold, to 25.7. For men who
smoked, the risk more than doubled, from 12.2 to 25.0
between the first and last studies. These relative risks
increased over the same period as the prevalence of smok-
ing and the average number of cigarettes consumed per
smoker decreased. Although the incidence of squamous
cell carcinoma of the lung—the type of lung cancer most
often diagnosed among smokers at the start of the lung
cancer epidemic—declined as smoking rates dropped, the
incidence of adenocarcinoma of the lung increased dra-
matically. Evidence suggests that changes in the composi-
tion and design of the cigarette itself may have had some
impact on the relative risk of lung cancer, as well as on the
shift in the types of lung cancer occurring in the contem-
porary cohorts of smokers (Thun et al. 2013).
This latest Surgeon General’s report also evaluated
the evidence on other cancers, and concluded that smok-
ing is a cause of liver cancer and of colorectal cancer, the
fourth most diagnosed cancer in the United States and
the cancer responsible for the second largest number of
cancer deaths annually (Chapter 6). The report found that
the evidence is suggestive but insufficient to conclude
that smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke cause
breast cancer, and that smoking is not a cause for pros-
tate cancer. The report also found that smoking increases
the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases in cancer
patients and survivors, including breast and prostate can-
cer patients.
Respiratory diseases: In the 1964 Surgeon Gen-
eral’s report, smoking was found to be a cause of “chronic
bronchitis,” a term used then for the disease now gener-
ally referred to as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD) (Fletcher et al. 1959). Because smoke is inhaled
into the lung and its components are deposited and
absorbed in the lungs, it has long been linked to adverse
effects on the respiratory system, causing malignant and
nonmalignant diseases, exacerbating chronic lung dis-
eases, and increasing the risk for respiratory infections.
The scientific literature showing associations with mul-
tiple diseases of the respiratory tract is extensive as is the
evidence supporting the biologic plausibility of smoking as
a cause of these associations (Chapter 7). This report has
reviewed the updated evidence on COPD. Mortality from
COPD continues to rise, and smoking remains responsi-
ble for the vast majority of cases (Chapter 7). As for lung
cancer, comparison of the findings of the two American
Cancer Society studies with the more recent studies span-
ning 2000–2010 showed rising risks for COPD, particu-
larly in women. Recent studies show that the relative risk
for COPD in women has risen greatly, reaching 22.4 com-
pared to never smokers, and similar to the risk in men
(Thun et al. 2013).
For asthma, another obstructive lung disease, the
evidence was found to be sufficient to infer that smoking
worsens asthma in adults who smoke (Chapter 7). The ben-
efits of implementing smokefree policies have been shown
for workers with asthma (Eisner et al. 1998; Menzies et al.
2006; Ayres et al. 2009; Wilson et al. 2012). Evidence con-
sidered in this report points to a reduction in admissions
for respiratory diseases following the implementation of a
smokefree policy (Tan and Glantz 2012). Tuberculosis was
once a leading cause of death in the United States. Now
far less frequent in the United States, it remains promi-
nent worldwide. Evidence reported over the last decade is
sufficient to lead to a conclusion that smoking increases
the risk for tuberculosis and for dying from tuberculosis
(Chapter 7).
Cardiovascular diseases: Although lung cancer
is often assumed to be the largest smoking-attributable
cause of death in the United States, cardiovascular disease
actually claims more lives of smokers 35 years of age and
older every year compared with lung cancer (Chapter 8).
Exposure to secondhand smoke causes significantly more
deaths due to cardiovascular disease than due to lung
cancer, and this new report finds that exposure to second-
hand smoke is also a cause of stroke. Exposure to second-
hand smoke increases the risk for stroke by an estimated
20–30%. Even so, the evidence is clear that reductions in
smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke have con-
tributed to the decline in death rates from cardiovascular
diseases since the late 1960s. Smokefree laws and policies
have been proven to reduce the incidence of heart attacks
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 7
and other coronary events among people younger than 65
years of age, and evidence suggests that there could be a
relationship between such laws and policies and a reduc-
tion in cerebrovascular events.
Diabetes: Previous Surgeon General’s reports have
found that smoking complicates the treatment of diabetes
and that smokers who have been diagnosed with diabetes
are at a higher risk for kidney disease, blindness, and circu-
latory complications leading to amputations. This report
concludes that smoking is a cause of type 2 diabetes mel-
litus, and that the risk of developing diabetes is 30–40%
higher for active smokers than nonsmokers (Chapter 10).
Furthermore, the risk of developing diabetes increases as
the number of cigarettes smoked grows.
Immune and autoimmune disorders: This report
finds that smoking is a cause of general adverse effects on
the body, including systemic inflammation and impaired
immune function (Chapter 10). One result of this altered
immunity is increased risk for pulmonary infections
among smokers. For example, risks for Mycobacterium
tuberculosis and for death from tuberculosis disease are
higher for smokers than nonsmokers (Chapter 7). Addi-
tionally, smoking is known to compromise the equi-
librium of the immune system, increasing the risk for
several immune and autoimmune disorders. This report
finds that smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis, and
that smoking interferes with the effectiveness of certain
treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (Chapter 10).
Reproductive effects: Several additional adverse
reproductive effects are now found to be attributable to
smoking (Chapter 9). One is ectopic pregnancy, in which
the embryo implants in the Fallopian tube or elsewhere
outside the uterus. Ectopic pregnancy is very rarely a sur-
vivable condition for the fetus and is a potentially fatal
condition for the mother. This report finds that mater-
nal smoking during early pregnancy is causal for orofa-
cial clefts in infants, and evidence suggests that smoking
could be associated with certain other birth defects. This
report also finds that the evidence is now sufficient to con-
clude that there is a causal relationship between smoking
and erectile dysfunction in men.
Eye disease: The retina is a delicate, light-sensitive
tissue that lines the inside of the eye. The macula is the
most sensitive part of the retina and is the part of the eye
that supplies sharp vision. Age-related macular degenera-
tion (AMD) gradually destroys the macula and can ulti-
mately lead to loss of vision in the center of the eye. This
report finds that smoking is a cause of AMD (Chapter 10).
Evidence in the report also suggests that quitting smok-
ing may reduce the risk for AMD, but the reduced risk may
not appear for 20 or more years after smoking cessation.
General health: Smokers have long been known
to suffer from poorer general health than nonsmokers,
beginning at an early age and extending throughout adult
life (Chapter 11). Although emphasis has been given to
smoking as a cause of specific and avoidable diseases, it is
a powerful cause of ill-health generally. These health defi-
cits not only reduce the quality of life of smokers but also
affect their participation in the workplace and increase
their costs to the health care system.
All-cause mortality: The evidence in this report reaf-
firms that smoking is a major cause of premature death
(Chapter 11). During the past 50 years, as generations
of men and women who began smoking in adolescence
and continued to smoke into middle and older ages have
been stricken with the health consequences of lifetime
smoking, the relative risk for all-cause mortality associ-
ated with current cigarette smoking has increased. The
age-standardized relative risk, comparing the all-cause
death rate in current smokers to that of never smokers,
has more than doubled in men and more than tripled in
women during the years since the release of the first Sur-
geon General’s report on smoking and health. The lives
of smokers are cut short by the development of the many
diseases caused by smoking and by their greater risk of
dying from common health events, such as complications
of routine surgeries and pneumonia. Smoking shortens
life far more than most other risk factors for early mortal-
ity; smokers are estimated to lose more than a decade of
life. Smoking cessation by 40 years of age reduces that loss
approximately 90%. Even stopping by about 60 years of
age reduces that loss approximately 40%. However, reduc-
ing the number of cigarettes smoked per day is much less
effective than quitting entirely for avoiding the risks of
premature death from all smoking-related causes of death.
Much of this 50th anniversary Surgeon General’s
report is devoted to examining evidence on the myriad
health effects, avoidable diseases, and all-cause mortal-
ity from smoking. Chapters highlight findings on specific
health topics from previous Surgeon General’s reports in
addition to presenting current information. The follow-
ing are chapter-specific conclusions related to the health
effects of smoking from Section 2 of the report.
Chapter 5: Nicotine
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer that at high-enough
doses nicotine has acute toxicity.
2. The evidence is sufficient to infer that nicotine acti-
vates multiple biological pathways through which
smoking increases risk for disease.
Surgeon General’s Report
8 Executive Summary
3. The evidence is sufficient to infer that nicotine expo-
sure during fetal development, a critical window for
brain development, has lasting adverse consequences
for brain development.
4. The evidence is sufficient to infer that nicotine
adversely affects maternal and fetal health dur-
ingpregnancy, contributing to multiple adverse out-
comes such as preterm delivery and stillbirth.
5. The evidence is suggestive that nicotine exposure
during adolescence, a critical window for brain devel-
opment, may have lasting adverse consequences for
brain development.
6. The evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between exposure to
nicotine and risk for cancer.
Chapter 6: Cancer
Lung Cancer
1. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that the risk
of developing adenocarcinoma of the lung from ciga-
rette smoking has increased since the 1960s.
2. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that the
increased risk of adenocarcinoma of the lung in
smokers results from changes in the design and com-
position of cigarettes since the 1950s.
3. The evidence is not sufficient to specify which design
changes are responsible for the increased risk of ade-
nocarcinoma, but there is suggestive evidence that
ventilated filters and increased levels of tobacco-spe-
cific nitrosamines have played a role.
4. The evidence shows that the decline of squamous cell
carcinoma follows the trend of declining smoking
prevalence.
Liver Cancer
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between smoking and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Colorectal Cancer
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between smoking and colorectal adenomatous
polyps and colorectal cancer.
Prostate Cancer
1. The evidence is suggestive of no causal relationship
between smoking and the risk of incident prostate
cancer.
2. The evidence is suggestive of a higher risk of death
from prostate cancer in smokers than in nonsmokers.
3. In men who have prostate cancer, the evidence is sug-
gestive of a higher risk of advanced-stage disease and
less-well-differentiated cancer in smokers than in
nonsmokers, and—independent of stage and histo-
logic grade—a higher risk of disease progression.
Breast Cancer
1. The evidence is sufficient to identify mechanisms by
which cigarette smoking may cause breast cancer.
2. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between tobacco smoke and
breast cancer.
3. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between active smoking and
breast cancer.
4. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a
causal relationship between exposure to secondhand
tobacco smoke and breast cancer.
Adverse Health Outcomes in Cancer Patients
and Survivors
1. In cancer patients and survivors, the evidence is suf-
ficient to infer a causal relationship between ciga-
rette smoking and adverse health outcomes. Quitting
smoking improves the prognosis of cancer patients.
2. In cancer patients and survivors, the evidence is suf-
ficient to infer a causal relationship between cigarette
smoking and increased all-cause mortality and can-
cer-specific mortality.
3. In cancer patients and survivors, the evidence is suf-
ficient to infer a causal relationship between cigarette
smoking and increased risk for second primary can-
cers known to be caused by cigarette smoking, such
as lung cancer.
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 9
4. In cancer patients and survivors, the evidence is sug-
gestive but not sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between cigarette smoking and (1) the risk of
recurrence, (2) poorer response to treatment, and (3)
increased treatment-related toxicity.
Chapter 7: Respiratory Diseases
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer that smoking is the
dominant cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) in men and women in the United
States. Smoking causes all elements of the COPD
phenotype, including emphysema and damage to the
airways of the lung.
2. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mor-
tality has increased dramatically in men and women
since the 1964 Surgeon General’s report. The number
of women dying from COPD now surpasses the num-
ber of men.
3. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
that women are more susceptible to develop severe
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at younger
ages.
4. The evidence is sufficient to infer that severe
α1-antitrypsin deficiency and cutis laxa are genetic
causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Asthma
1. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between active smoking and the
incidence of asthma in adolescents.
2. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a
causal relationship between active smoking and exac-
erbation of asthma among children and adolescents.
3. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between active smoking and the
incidence of asthma in adults.
4. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between active smoking and exacerbation of
asthma in adults.
Tuberculosis
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between smoking and an increased risk of Myco-
bacterium tuberculosis disease.
2. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship
between smoking and mortality due to tuberculosis.
3. The evidence is suggestive of a causal relationship
between smoking and the risk of recurrent tubercu-
losis disease.
4. The evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between active smok-
ing and the risk of tuberculosis infection.
5. The evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between exposure to
secondhand smoke and the risk of tuberculosis infec-
tion.
6. The evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between exposure to
secondhand smoke and the risk of tuberculosis dis-
ease.
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
1. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between cigarette smoking and
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Chapter 8: Cardiovascular Disease
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between exposure to secondhand smoke and
increased risk of stroke.
2. The estimated increase in risk for stroke from expo-
sure to secondhand smoke is about 20–30%.
3. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between the implementation of a smokefree law
or policy and a reduction in coronary events among
people younger than 65 years of age.
4. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between the implementation of
a smokefree law or policy and a reduction in cerebro-
vascular events.
Surgeon General’s Report
10 Executive Summary
5. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between the implementation of
a smokefree law or policy and a reduction in other
heart disease outcomes, including angina and out-of-
hospital sudden coronary death.
Chapter 9: Reproductive Outcomes
Congenital Malformations
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between maternal smoking in early pregnancy
and orofacial clefts.
2. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between maternal smoking in
early pregnancy and clubfoot, gastroschisis, and atrial
septal heart defects.
Neurobehavioral Disorders of Childhood
1. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a
causal relationship between maternal prenatal smok-
ing and disruptive behavioral disorders, and attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder in particular, among
children.
2. The evidence is insufficient to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between maternal
prenatal smoking and anxiety and depression in chil-
dren.
3. The evidence is insufficient to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between maternal
prenatal smoking and Tourette syndrome.
4. The evidence is insufficient to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between maternal
prenatal smoking and schizophrenia in her offspring.
5. The evidence is insufficient to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between maternal
prenatal smoking and intellectual disability.
Ectopic Pregnancy
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between maternal active smoking and ectopic
pregnancy.
Spontaneous Abortion
1. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a
causal relationship between maternal active smoking
and spontaneous abortion.
Male Sexual Function
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between smoking and erectile dysfunction.
Chapter 10: Other Specific
Outcomes
Eye Disease: Age-Related Macular Degeneration
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between cigarette smoking and neovascular and
atrophic forms of age-related macular degeneration.
2. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
that smoking cessation reduces the risk of advanced
age-related macular degeneration.
Dental Disease
1. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a
causal relationship between active cigarette smoking
and dental caries.
2. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between exposure to tobacco
smoke and dental caries in children.
3. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between cigarette smoking and
failure of dental implants.
Diabetes
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer that cigarette smok-
ing is a cause of diabetes.
2. The risk of developing diabetes is 30–40% higher for
active smokers than nonsmokers.
3. There is a positive dose-response relationship between
the number of cigarettes smoked and the risk of devel-
oping diabetes.
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 11
Immune Function and Autoimmune Disease
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer that components of
cigarette smoke impact components of the immune
system. Some of these effects are immune activating
and others are immune-suppressive.
2. The evidence is sufficient to infer that cigarette smok-
ing compromises the immune system and that altered
immunity is associated with increased risk for pulmo-
nary infections.
3. The evidence is sufficient to infer that cigarette smoke
compromises immune homeostasis and that altered
immunity is associated with an increased risk for sev-
eral disorders with an underlying immune diathesis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship
between cigarette smoking and rheumatoid arthritis.
2. The evidence is sufficient to infer that cigarette smok-
ing reduces the effectiveness of the tumor necrosis
factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
1. The evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or
absence of a causal relationship between cigarette
smoking and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE),
the severity of SLE, or the response to therapy for
SLE.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
1. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer
a causal relationship between cigarette smoking and
Crohn’s disease.
2. The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a
causal relationship between cigarette smoking and a
protective effect for ulcerative colitis.
Chapter 11: General Morbidity and
All-Cause Mortality
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relation-
ship between smoking and diminished overall health.
Manifestations of diminished overall health among
smokers include self-reported poor health, increased
absenteeism from work, and increased health care
utilization and cost.
2. The evidence is sufficient to infer that cigarette smok-
ing increases risk for all-cause mortality in men and
women.
3. The evidence is sufficient to infer that the relative risk
of dying from cigarette smoking has increased over
the last 50 years in men and women in the United
States.
Section 3: Tracking and Ending the Epidemic
The final section of the 50th anniversary Surgeon
General’s report on smoking and health covers the human
and economic costs of the smoking epidemic in the United
States, current trends in tobacco use and tobacco control,
the status of interventions and programs that address the
smoking epidemic, and a vision for a future that is free of
death and disease caused by tobacco use.
Throughout this report, the overwhelming harm
done to this nation’s health by cigarette smoking is made
clear repeatedly. Accumulated data from the past 50 years
graphically illustrate the devastating loss of life and the
economic waste that have flowed from the manufacture,
marketing, sale, and consumption of combustible tobacco
products. In this half-century, nearly 25 trillion cigarettes
have been consumed, despite a significant drop in con-
sumption per smoker (Figure 2). The annual costs attrib-
uted to smoking in the United States are between $289
billion and $333 billion, including at least $130 billion
for direct medical care of adults over $150 billion for lost
productivity due to premature death, and more than $5
billion for lost productivity from premature death due to
exposure to secondhand smoke (Chapter 12).
Surgeon General’s Report
12 Executive Summary
Figure 2 Total cigarette consumption, United States, 1900–2012
Source: Miller 1981; U.S. Department of Agriculture 1987, 1996, 2005, 2007a,b; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2012.
Note: Data shown are annual total consumption of cigarettes. This differs from Figure 2.1, which reports the annual adult (18 years of age and older) per capita
consumption.
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 13
Despite decades of warnings on the dangers of smok-
ing, nearly 42 million adults (Chapter 13) and more than
3.5 million middle and high school students continue to
smoke cigarettes (USDHHS 2012). Significant disparities
in tobacco use persist among certain racial/ethnic popu-
lations, and among groups defined by educational level,
socioeconomic status, geographic region, sexual minori-
ties (including individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender, and individuals with same-sex relation-
ships or attraction), and severe mental illness. The major-
ity (88%) started smoking before 18 years of age, and
nearly all first use of cigarettes occurs before 26 years of
age (USDHHS 2012). The fraction of smoking initiation
occurring after 18 years of age has been increasing over
the past decade (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Cigarette initiation during the past year among persons 12 years of age and older, by age at first use, 2002–
2012
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, National
Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2002–2012.
a
Difference between this estimate and the 2012 estimate is statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
Tobacco industry advertising and promotional activ-
ities cause youth and young adults to start smoking, and
nicotine addiction keeps people smoking past those ages
(Chapter 14) (USDHHS 2012). Each year, for every adult
who dies prematurely from a smoking-related cause, more
than two youth or young adults become replacement
smokers (Chapter 13) (USDHHS 2012). Although the
prevalence of current smoking among high school-aged
youth has declined, the total number of
youth and young
adults who started smoking increased from 1.9 million
in 2002 to 2.3 million in 2012 (Figure 3). However, prog-
ress has been made in reducing initiation among youth
younger than 18 years of age, with the total number of
youth who initiated smoking before age 18 declining from
1.5 million in 2009 down to 1.2 million in 2012.
While attention has focused primarily on cigarette
smoking, this and recent Surgeon General’s reports review
health risks and emphasize the need to monitor patterns
of use of all combusted tobacco products, particularly the
use of cigarette-like cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes
using pipe tobacco. Most commonly, these products are
used along with cigarettes. According to recent trends,
the percentage of adults, 18 years of age and older—who
smoke either cigarettes, cigars, or roll-your-own ciga-
rettes made with pipe tobacco—has remained relatively
steady (25–26%) since 2009 and has declined only a small
amount since 2002 (Table 2).
Although recent trends emphasize the need for con-
tinued and vigorous tobacco control efforts, significant
Surgeon General’s Report
14 Executive Summary
achievements have been made during the past five decades.
In fact, historic success in tobacco control is considered
one of the top public health achievements of the twenti-
eth century (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[CDC] 1999; Ward and Warren 2007). Today, in the United
States there are more former smokers than current smok-
ers, and success rates for quitting have been increasing
among recent birth cohorts (Chapter 13). Interest in
quitting is high across all segments of society. Patterns
of tobacco use are also changing, with more people smok-
ing intermittently and smoking fewer cigarettes; however,
there is an increase in the use of tobacco products other
than cigarettes, often concurrent with cigarettes.
Substance 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Total tobacco products
a
30.8
b
30.2
b
29.6
b
29.9
b
30.1
b
29.2
b
28.8
b
28.1 27.8 26.9 27.3
Cigarettes
c
25.8
b
25.2
b
24.7
b
24.7
b
24.8
b
24.1
b
23.7
b
23.0
d
22.6 21.7 22.0
Smokeless tobacco 3.5 3.4 3.1
b
3.3 3.5 3.3 3.6 3.5 3.6 3.3 3.6
Cigars 5.5 5.5 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.2 5.4
Pipe tobacco 0.8 0.7
b
0.8
d
0.9 1.0 0.8 0.8
d
0.8 0.9 0.8 1.0
Cigarettes
c
or cigars 28.5
b
27.9
b
27.6
b
27.7
b
27.7
b
27.0
b
26.4
b
25.8
d
25.5 24.6 24.8
Cigarettes,
c
cigars, or
pipe tobacco
28.8
b
28.2
b
27.9
b
28.0
b
28.0
b
27.3
b
26.7
b
26.1 25.8 24.9 25.2
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, National
Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2002–2012.
a
Tobacco products include cigarettes, smokeless tobacco (i.e., chewing tobacco or snuff), cigars, or pipe tobacco.
b
Difference between estimate and 2012 estimate is statistically significant at the 0.01 level.
c
Past month cigarette use is defined as smoking during the 30 days preceding the survey and smoking 100 cigarettes or more in a
lifetime. Respondents with an unknown lifetime number of cigarettes smoked were excluded from the analysis.
d
Difference between estimate and 2012 estimate is statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
The burden of smoking-attributable disease and pre-
mature death and its high costs to the nation will con-
tinue for decades unless smoking prevalence is reduced
more rapidly than the current trajectory. The evidence in
this report shows that the nation may fail to achieve the
Healthy People 2020 objective of reducing the prevalence
of smoking among adults to 12%. Model estimates sug-
gest that if the status quo in tobacco control in 2008 were
maintained, the projected prevalence of smoking among
adults in 2050 could still be as high as 15% (Chapter 15).
Trends in smoking rates among youth and adults show
progress, but the prevalence of current smoking among
youth and adults is only slowly declining and the actual
number of youth and young adults starting to smoke has
increased since 2002 (Figure 3). Additionally, the use of
multiple tobacco products is increasingly common, espe-
cially among young smokers. Concerns remain that use of
these new products may increase initiation rates among
youth and young adults, delay quitting, and prolong the
smoking epidemic.
The tobacco industry continues to position itself to
sustain its sales by recruiting youth and young adults and
by maintaining current smokers as consumers of all their
nicotine-containing products including cigarettes (see
Chapters 13, 14, and 15). As reviewed in Chapter 14, U.S.
District Judge Gladys Kessler entered her final opinion
and order on August 17, 2006, and found that the tobacco
industry defendants violated the Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by lying, misrep-
resenting, and deceiving the public “including smokers
and the young people they avidly sought as ‘replacement
smokers,’ about the devastating health effects of smoking
and environmental tobacco smoke” (U.S. v. Philip Mor-
ris 2006:852). The Tobacco Control Act incorporates as
congressional findings of fact Judge Kessler’s determina-
tions that “the major United States cigarette companies
continue to target and market to youth,” that the compa-
nies sought to “encourage youth to start smoking subse-
quent to the signing of the Master Settlement Agreement
Table 2 Percentage of tobacco product use in the past month among persons 18 years of age and older, 2002–2012
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 15
in 1998,” and that they “have designed their cigarettes to
precisely control nicotine delivery levels and provide doses
of nicotine sufficient to create and sustain addiction while
also concealing much of their nicotine-related research”
(Tobacco Control Act 2009, §2(47) – (49)).
Therefore, this report addresses the question: what
steps are needed to end the tobacco epidemic? There are
different ways to achieve this vision. Should the empha-
sis be on ending cigarette use?; ending the use of the
most harmful tobacco products while reducing the harm
of remaining products?; or ending the use of all tobacco
products?
The scientific findings of the 2012 Surgeon General’s
report (USDHHS 2012) show that there are evidence-based
strategies that can rapidly drop initiation and prevalence
rates of smoking among youth to single digits. To reach
this target, these strategies need to be fully implemented
and sustained with sufficient intensity and duration. With-
out such increased and sustained action, 5.6 million youth
younger than 18 years of age in this country today are pro-
jected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness.
But millions of these projected deaths could be averted,
making tobacco control a highest priority in our overall
public health commitment and strategy.
The scientific evidence is incontrovertible: inhal-
ing the combustion compounds from tobacco smoke,
particularly from cigarettes, is deadly. It has been stated
that “The cigarette is also a defective product, meaning
not just dangerous but unreasonably dangerous, killing
half its long-term users. And addictive by design” (Proctor
2013, p. i27). As the list of diseases caused by smoking has
continued to increase, the updated estimate of the annual
number of deaths attributable to smoking and exposure to
secondhand smoke is now approaching 500,000 (Chapter
12). This increase has occurred despite decreases in per
capita cigarette consumption and prevalence of smoking,
emphasizing our enhanced understanding of the increased
lethality of cigarettes. The high risks of cigarette smoking
and the historic and current patterns of tobacco use in the
United States lead to a primary conclusion of this report:
• The burden ofdeath and disease from tobacco use in
the United States is overwhelmingly caused by ciga-
rettes and other combusted tobacco products; rapid
elimination of their use will dramatically reduce this
burden.
Could the use of cigarettes and other combusted
tobacco products be rapidly reduced in this country? As
noted above, evidence-based strategies that can rapidly
drop youth initiation and prevalence rates down to single
digits have already been identified and used (USDHHS
2012). Chapter 14 reviews a broad range of well-defined
and effective interventions proven to reduce smoking
rates if implemented and sustained at funding levels con-
sistent with CDC’s recommended levels (Figure 4).
This and previous reports outline effective programs
and policies: raising the retail price of cigarettes and other
tobacco products, smokefree indoor air policies, high-
impact media campaigns, full access to cessation treat-
ments, and funding of comprehensive statewide tobacco
control programs at the CDC recommended levels.
However, these five actions are not all that needs to
be done. In considering options for reducing the health
burden caused by smoking, many additional recom-
mended actions have been defined in evidence reviews and
guidance documents discussed in this report. For example,
selected state experience suggests that all levels of govern-
ment can enhance revenue collection and minimize tax
avoidance and evasion through several promising policy
approaches, such as implementing a high-tech cigarette
tax stamp, improving tobacco licensure management,
and making the stamps harder to counterfeit. These state
practices could also be expanded to the national level with
a track and trace system. A track and trace system, in the
tobacco control context, is a system that can track goods
from manufacture to distribution to sale, identifying
points in the supply chain where taxes should be paid and
confirm payment. Implementing such systems would also
simultaneously retain the positive public health effects of
taxation and protect product regulation in the market.
There is no question that these proven interventions
need to be fully implemented and sustained at recom-
mended levels. In addition to initiatives of the federal gov-
ernment, other factors in society can significantly affect
social norms. Portrayals of tobacco use in U.S. films appear
to have rebounded upward in the past 2 years (Chapter
14). In 2012, youth were exposed to an estimated 14.9
billion in-theater tobacco-use impressions
1
in youth-
rated films (Polansky et al. 2013).
1
One impression equals one tobacco use incident on screen viewed by one audience member.
Youth who are exposed
to images of smoking in movies are more likely to smoke;
those who get the most exposure to onscreen smoking are
about twice as likely to begin smoking as those who get
the least exposure (USDHHS 2012). Actions that would
eliminate the depiction of tobacco use in movies, which
are produced and rated as appropriate for children and
adolescents, could have a significant effect on preventing
youth from becoming tobacco users.
Surgeon General’s Report
16 Executive Summary
Figure 4 Total funding for state tobacco control programs, 1986−2010 (adjusted to fiscal year 2010 dollars)
Source: Project ImpacTEEN; University of Illinois at Chicago; CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 1991−2009. Current smoking defined
as high school students who smoked on ≥1 of the past 30 days—United States.
Note: CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Faced with the challenge of achieving a vision of a
society free of tobacco-related death and disease, a discus-
sion has begun within the field of tobacco control about
what has come to be called the tobacco “end game” in the
published literature. This literature considers strategies
that could be used in addition to the expanded imple-
mentation of the proven tobacco control interventions, to
accelerate declines in the use of cigarettes and other com-
busted tobacco products and end the epidemic of disease
and premature death caused by tobacco.
Chapter 15 discusses various end game strategies;
the feasibility and applicability are reviewed. It has been
suggested that an integrated national tobacco control
strategy should be considered—based on a foundation of
enhanced implementation of the proven strategies (taxa-
tion, smokefree areas, increased barrier-free cessation
support, warning labels, public health campaigns, and
restrictions on advertising, promotions, and sponsor-
ship) into which the most feasible end game strategies
are included (van der Eijk 2013). Examples of end game
options which could complement the proven interven-
tions in accomplishing our overall goal of a society free
of tobacco-related death and disease include but are not
limited to:
1. Reducing the nicotine content to make cigarettes less
addictive (Benowitz and Henningfield 2013); and
2. Greater restrictions on sales, particularly at the local
level, including bans on entire categoies of tobacco
products (Berrick 2013; Malone 2013).
End game strategies might be aided by future
approaches and devices for nicotine delivery that better
substitute for the cigarette. As discussed in Chapter 14,
various new products are increasingly being introduced
into the market. In 2012 Lorillard acquired Blu Elec-
tronic Cigarettes, in 2013 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Com-
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 17
pany introduced VUSE electronic cigarettes in limited
markets, and Altria announced that it will introduce an
electronic cigarette in 2014 (Esterl 2013; Lorillard 2013;
Reynolds American 2013; Wells Fargo Securities Research
2013). Additionally, other electronic nicotine delivery sys-
tems have been developed and marketed by companies
with little or no experience in developing and marketing
traditional tobacco products (WHO 2009; Henningfield
and Zaatari 2010; Cobb and Abrams 2011). As these new
products are entering the marketplace rapidly, significant
questions remain about (1) how to assess the potential
toxicity and health effects of the more than 250 electronic
cigarette brands; (2) the magnitude of reduced risk from
electronic cigarettes versus continuing use of conven-
tional cigarettes for individual smokers; (3) the need to
weigh the potential individual benefits versus population
risks; (4) how the advertising and marketing of these new
products should be regulated; and (5) even assuming that
electronic cigarettes could be sufficiently safe to the users
and offer net public health benefits, there are significant
questions about the manner in which they should be regu-
lated (Benowitz 2013). Further research and attention to
the consequences as well as regulatory measures will be
necessary to fully address these questions. However, the
promotion of electronic cigarettes and other innovative
tobacco products is much more likely to be beneficial in
an environment where the appeal, accessibility, promo-
tion, and use of cigarettes are being rapidly reduced.
The following are chapter-specific conclusions from
Section 3 of the report.
Chapter 12: Smoking-Attributable
Morbidity, Mortality, and Economic
Costs
1. Since the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking
and health in 1964, there have been more than 20
million premature deaths attributable to smoking and
exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking remains the
leading preventable cause of premature death in the
United States.
2. Despite declines in the prevalence of current smoking,
the annual burden of smoking-attributable mortality
in the United States has remained above 400,000 for
more than a decade and currently is estimated to be
about 480,000, with millions more living with smok-
ing-related diseases.
3. Due to the slow decline in the prevalence of current
smoking, the annual burden of smoking-attributable
mortality can be expected to remain at high levels for
decades into the future, with 5.6 million youth cur-
rently 0 to 17 years of age projected to die prema-
turely from a smoking-related illness.
4. Annual smoking-attributable economic costs in the
United States estimated for the years 2009–2012 were
between $289–332.5 billion, including $132.5–175.9
billion for direct medical care of adults, $151 billion
for lost productivity due to premature death estimated
from 2005–2009, and $5.6 billion (in 2006) for lost
productivity due to exposure to secondhand smoke.
Chapter 13: Patterns of Tobacco Use
Among U.S. Youth, Young Adults,
and Adults
1. In the United States, the prevalence of current ciga-
rette smoking among adults has declined from 42%
in 1965 to 18% in 2012.
2. The prevalence of current cigarette smoking declined
first among men (between 1965 and the 1990s), and
then among women (since the 1980s). However,
declines in the prevalence of smoking among adults
(18 years of age and older) have slowed in recent years.
3. Most first use of cigarettes occurs by 18 years of age
(87%), with nearly all first use by 26 years of age
(98%).
4. Very large disparities in tobacco use remain across
racial/ethnic groups and between groups defined by
educational level, socioeconomic status, and region.
5. In the United States there are now more former smok-
ers than there are current smokers. More than half of
all ever smokers have quit smoking.
6. The rate of quitting smoking among recent birth
cohorts has been increasing, and interest in quitting
is high across all segments of society.
7. Patterns of tobacco use are changing, with more
intermittent use of cigarettes and an increase in use
of other products.
Surgeon General’s Report
18 Executive Summary
Chapter 14: Current Status of
Tobacco Control
1. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there are
diverse tobacco control measures of proven efficacy at
the population and individual levels.
2. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that advertising
and promotional activities by the tobacco companies
cause the onset and continuation of smoking among
adolescents and young adults.
3. Tobacco product regulation has the potential to
contribute to public health through reductions in
tobacco product addictiveness and harmfulness,
and by preventing false or misleading claims by the
tobacco industry of reduced risk.
4. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that litigation
against tobacco companies has reduced tobacco use
in the United States by leading to increased product
prices, restrictions on marketing methods, and mak-
ing available industry documents for scientific analy-
sis and strategic awareness.
5. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that increases
in the prices of tobacco products, including those
resulting from excise tax increases, prevent initiation
of tobacco use, promote cessation, and reduce the
prevalence and intensity of tobacco use among youth
and adults.
6. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that smokefree
indoor air policies are effective in reducing exposure
to secondhand smoke and lead to less smoking among
covered individuals.
7. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that mass
media campaigns, comprehensive community pro-
grams, and comprehensive statewide tobacco con-
trol programs prevent initiation of tobacco use and
reduce the prevalence of tobacco use among youth
and adults.
8. The evidence is sufficient to conclude that tobacco
cessation treatments are effective across a wide popu-
lation of smokers, including those with significant
mental and physical comorbidity.
Chapter 15: The Changing
Landscape of Tobacco Control—
Current Status and Future
Directions
1. Together, experience since 1964 and results from
models exploring future scenarios of tobacco control
indicate that the decline in tobacco use over coming
decades will not be sufficiently rapid to meet targets.
The goal of ending the tragic burden of avoidable
disease and premature death will not be met quickly
enough without additional action.
2. Evidence-based tobacco control interventions that
are effective continue to be underutilized and imple-
mented at far below funding levels recommended
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Implementing tobacco control policies and programs
as recommended by Ending the Tobacco Epidemic: A
Tobacco Control Strategic Plan by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services and the End-
ing the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation
by the Institute of Medicine on a sustained basis at
high intensity would accelerate the decline of tobacco
use in youth and adults, and also accelerate progress
toward the goal of ending the tobacco epidemic.
3. New “end game” strategies have been proposed with
the goal of eliminating tobacco smoking. Some of
these strategies may prove useful for the United
States, particularly reduction of the nicotine content
of tobacco products and greater restrictions on sales
(including bans on entire categories of tobacco prod-
ucts).
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 19
Accelerating the National Movement to Reduce Tobacco Use
vices (USDHHS 2010a), provides a critical framework to
guide and coordinate efforts to reduce the smoking rate
to less than 10% for both youth and adults in 10 years,
averting millions of smoking-related deaths. This national
commitment will require increased and sustained action
to rapidly eliminate the use of cigarettes and other forms
of combustible tobacco products. As end game strate-
gies are being developed, the following actions should be
implemented:
• Counteracting industry marketing by sustaining
high impact national media campaigns like the
CDC’s Tips from Former Smokers campaign and
FDA’s youth prevention campaigns at a high fre-
quency level and exposure for 12 months a year for
a decade or more;
• Raising the average excise cigarette taxes to pre-
vent youth from starting smoking and encouraging
smokers to quit;
• Fulfilling the opportunity of the Affordable Care Act
to provide access to barrier-free proven tobacco use
cessation treatment including counseling and medi-
cation to all smokers, especially those with signifi-
cant mental and physical comorbidities;
• Expanding smoking cessation for all smokers in pri-
mary and specialty care settings by having health
care providers and systems examine how they can
establish a strong standard of care for these effective
treatments;
• Effective implementation of FDA’s authority for
tobacco product regulation in order to reduce
tobacco product addictiveness and harmfulness;
• Expanding tobacco control and prevention research
efforts to increase understanding of the ever chang-
ing tobacco control landscape;
• Fully funding comprehensive statewide tobacco
control programs at CDC recommended levels; and
• Extending comprehensive smokefree indoor protec-
tions to 100% of the U.S. population.
These key conclusions of this report provide evi-
dence that calls for dramatic action:
The current rate of progress in tobacco control is
not fast enough. More needs to be done.
• High levels of smoking-attributable disease and
death costs will persist for decades into this
twenty-first century unless more rapid progress
is made in tobacco control. The current burden
is unacceptable.
• The almost 500,000 annual premature deaths due to
smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke are far too
many. Even 100,000 or 200,000 annual attribut¬able
deaths are far too many; yet this is a realistic pro-
jection of the burden well into the middle of this
twenty-first century if more rapid progress is not
made in tobacco control.
• The burden of death and disease from tobacco use in
the United States is overwhelmingly caused by ciga-
rettes and other combusted tobacco products; rapid
elimination of their use will dramatically reduce this
burden.
• There are important lessons to be learned from other
successes in public health. In confronting world-
wide epidemics caused by smallpox and polio, the
eradication of the diseases was the clear objective.
From this single-minded focus, the best strategies
and actions based on public health science and prac-
tice were applied, evaluated, refined, and sustained
for decades. The results are now evident: smallpox
was eradicated decades ago and polio is on the verge
of elimination. The nation should firmly commit to
this goal of creating a society free of tobacco-related
death and disease by engaging all sectors of society
to an equally single-minded focus.
In the last 50 years, the smoking rate in the United
States has been cut by more than one-half (from 42.7% in
1965 to 18% in 2012). The Strategic Action Plan, Ending
the Tobacco Epidemic: A Tobacco Control Strategic Action
Plan for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser-
Surgeon General’s Report
20 Executive Summary
• Former WHO Director General Gro Brundtland
was correct in 1999 in stating the need to evaluate
current action from the perspective of our grand-
children and their children (Asma et al. 2002). As
future generations look back on our current actions
and knowledge of the tobacco epidemic, will cur-
rent efforts show the commitment to public health
and social justice set forth in our national plans and
objectives?
This nation’s decades-long battle against the tobacco
epidemic has successfully prevented millions of premature
deaths that would otherwise have occurred—an historic
achievement by any measure. On the fiftieth anniver-
sary of the landmark 1964 Surgeon General’s report, this
nation must rededicate itself not only to carrying forward
the successful tobacco control efforts that have long been
under way, but also to expanding and accelerating those
efforts in full recognition of the challenge that remains.
The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress
Executive Summary 21
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