Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website to its version as of 12:00 AM on January 29, 2025. Information on this page may be modified and/or removed in the future subject to the terms of the court’s order and implemented consistent with applicable law. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from truth. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology due to the harms and divisiveness it causes. This page does not reflect reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General

About this resource:

HHS Non-systematic Review

Source: Office of the Surgeon General, 2014

Last Reviewed: 2014

Workgroups: Tobacco Use Workgroup, Cancer Workgroup

This report is meant to speed up and sustain strategies that work to get rid of tobacco smoking. Strategies that support the goal of ending tobacco smoking include:

  • Hard-hitting advertising campaigns
  • Smoke-free air policies 
  • Taxes on tobacco products set at the most effective levels
  • Accessible treatment to help people stop using tobacco
  • Far-reaching and fully funded statewide tobacco control programs
Read more about this resource

Objectives related to this resource (18)

Reduce the lung cancer death rate — C‑02
Improving
Reduce current tobacco use in adults — TU‑01
Improving
Reduce current cigarette smoking in adults — TU‑02
LHI label
Improving
Reduce current tobacco use in adolescents — TU‑04
LHI label
Getting worse
Reduce current e-cigarette use in adolescents — TU‑05
Little or no detectable change
Reduce current cigarette smoking in adolescents — TU‑06
Target met or exceeded
Reduce current cigar smoking in adolescents — TU‑07
Improving
Reduce current use of flavored tobacco products in adolescents who use tobacco — TU‑09
Baseline only
Eliminate cigarette smoking initiation in adolescents and young adults — TU‑10
Improving
Increase past-year attempts to quit smoking in adults — TU‑11
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who get advice to quit smoking from a health care provider — TU‑12
Little or no detectable change
Increase successful quit attempts in adults who smoke — TU‑14
Little or no detectable change
Increase the number of states, territories, and DC that prohibit smoking in worksites, restaurants, and bars — TU‑17
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of smoke-free homes — TU‑18
Improving
Reduce the proportion of people who don't smoke but are exposed to secondhand smoke — TU‑19
Little or no detectable change
Increase the national average tax on cigarettes — TU‑21
Improving
Reduce current cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking in adults — TU‑03
Improving
Eliminate policies in states, territories, and DC that preempt local tobacco control policies — TU‑20
Little or no detectable change

Suggested Citation

1.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. (2014). The consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK179276/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK179276.pdf