The notice of a meeting of a House committee of the Georgia General Assembly caught our attention earlier this week. The study committee’s topic was the costs and effects of cigarette smoking.
This is still 2025, right? Not 1964?
On the agenda was the heading “Tobacco in Cigarettes and the Chronic Health Costs of Smoking and the Workforce Impact.”
Is there still some question about this? Has there been research that we missed that endorses returning smoking to offices, airplanes and restaurants? Is there a magical new tobacco that, when burned, does not produce tar and nicotine?
In 1964, the United States surgeon general released a report that concluded smoking was a significant health hazard and was linked to lung cancer and other health problems. Cigarette advertising was banned on U.S. television and radio as of midnight on Jan. 2, 1971. Smoking is now banned in all workplaces in 26 U.S. states. In 1965, according to the American Lung Association, 42.6% of Americans smoked; as of 2022, it was 11.6%.