National programs for smoking cessation

The smoking cessation effort has made tremendous progress since the 1964 Report of the Surgeon General described the health hazards of smoking. The impact of these efforts on smoking is particularly impressive when the current smoking level is compared with levels of smoking projected from trends apparent before that 1964 report, levels that might have been reached if there had been no national stop-smoking campaign. Because of the campaign, an estimated 35 million Americans were nonsmokers in 1985 who would otherwise have been smokers. If these figures are projected to the year 2000, the campaign will have postponed more than 2 million deaths. Therefore, reducing the prevalence of smoking in adults from about 40% in 1964 to 29% in 1987 can be considered a tremendous public health achievement. Among those who did take up smoking, there is also reason for some optimism. By 1987, more than 38 million Americans had quit smoking; this figure represents nearly half of all living adults who ever smoked. The 1990 Report of the Surgeon General gave a positive message to the 50 million Americans who continue to smoke by describing the health benefits of quitting for all the major smoking-related diseases.