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Exhibit showcases tobacco use history, impact on health
April 21, 2014
In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General released the first report on the dangers of smoking on health. This panel is part of the exhibit "History of Tobacco Policy."
The Arnold School of Public Health is presenting a historical exhibit on the History of Tobacco Policy in conjunction with this week's 2014 Winona B. Vernberg Distinguished Lecture.
The exhibit, located on the first-floor atrium of the Public Health Research Center at 921 Assembly Street, features the "50 Year Surgeon General Report," highlighting the first Surgeon General's report in 1964 on the impact of smoking on health. The exhibit also sheds light on a "Century of Cigarettes," providing background on the forces that influenced the sale of cigarettes and the resulting epidemic of lung cancer.
Dr. Michael Cummings of the Medical University of South Carolina will be the featured speaker for the Vernberg Lecture at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 24, at the Russell House Theater. The program, titled "Tobacco Control: A Glass Half Full or Half Empty?," is free and open to the University community and the public.
Considered one of the world’s leading authorities on tobacco policy, Cummings is co-leader of the Hollings Cancer Center Tobacco Research Program.
The exhibit showcases a history of the office of the Surgeon General, as well as the events that led up to the Surgeon General's 1964 report, titled "Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States." Additional sections of the exhibit show Surgeon Generals over time and include key reports on smoking and health.
The exhibit also illustrates that at the turn of the 20th century most tobacco consumed in the United States was in the form of chewing tobacco and/or cigars. At that time, cigarettes were largely a novelty item.
In 1881 James Bonsack invented the automated cigarette-making machine that ushered in the mass production of cigarettes. Between 1900 and 1930, cigarette sales increased more than 25-fold, and about a decade later the number of lung cancer deaths which had totaled just a few hundred per year at the beginning of the century, started to increase steadily in parallel with the rise of cigarette smoking.
The exhibit will remain in the PHRC atrium until noon Thursday.
Visit http://sph.sc.edu/news/2014Vernberg-newsrelease2.html to learn more about the lecture.
