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A Brief History of American Anti-Smoking Campaigns

游客2024-06-08  12
问题                               A Brief History of American Anti-Smoking Campaigns
    The First Anti-Smoking Treatise
    Tobacco is a native American plant that was first used as a smoking substance in the religious ceremonies of Indian medicine men in coastal regions of North and South America. Its use had become widespread in Europe by the late 1500s, but was not well received by all. King James I of England published what may be considered the first anti-smoking treatise in 1604, which described tobacco smoking as "a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs".
    Despite King James’ effort, tobacco use, in the form of snuff dipping and pipe smoking spread in England and then quickly throughout the world. The English colonial companies, working against the wishes of the royal family, promoted the use of tobacco. Tobacco became a profitable export for the newly formed American colonies.
    It was not until the 20th century that large numbers of people began to use tobacco in a much more deadly form: cigarette. Cancers of the mouth, lips, throat and nose had already been linked with the use of snuff, cigars and pipes by a few astute (敏锐的) physicians. With the development of the blended cigarette, smokers had the "advantage" of being able to inhale smoke into their lungs, more efficiently exposing the entire body to many of tobacco’s harmful substances. The epidemic of cigarette-related diseases soon followed.
    The Great Cigarette Advertising Campaign
    Before 1915, cigarettes were not particularly popular. However, beginning in World War Ⅰ cigarette sales rose sharply, boosted by distribution to soldiers and sailors, the invention of match packs and an unprecedented postwar cigarette advertising campaign.
    During the war, General John J. Pershing stated "you ask me what we need to win this war... I answer tobacco as much as bullets." Cigarettes were sent overseas to American troops. They were so much more convenient to smoke in the trenches than pipes or cigars. Millions of soldiers thus took up cigarette smoking during the war and continued their habit once they returned home.
    The great 20th century cigarette advertising campaign began right after World War I, capitalizing on the patriotism that accompanied the war effort. The ads often featured testimonials (证明) by movie stars, athletes and even doctors, who went so far as to suggest that good health and good looks were the rewards of smoking. Some cigarette manufacturers made particularly bold health claims for their products, advertising that their brand could steady the nerves or even prevent smoker’s cough.
    The advertising campaigns were so effective that by 1939, a Fortune magazine survey showed that 53 percent of all adult American men smoked cigarettes (as did 66 percent of those under 40).
    The widespread use of cigarettes among women lagged some 25 to 30 years behind that of men. Although a few dating women had smoked cigarettes even before World War I, women did not take up smoking in large numbers until the 1940s. During World War Ⅱ, cigarettes were again sent tree to American military. At home, cigarette advertising was targeted at females, who had taken over traditional male jobs.
    First Clues
    Unknown to the smoking public, an impressive amount of speculation--and some hard scientific evidence--which linked smoking with disease had emerged between 1920 and 1940. Tobacco companies chose to ignore this evidence and continued to promote cigarettes heavily.
    By today’s standards, the medical evidence gathered against cigarettes by 1940 would have been enough to stimulate a thorough investigation of the matter and the extensive coverage in the popular press. Unfortunately, this was not the case at the time.
    Few people were aware of the evidence, and those were did not appear to be overly alarmed by it. This may have been due partially to the fact that cigarettes had become as common and as all-American as apple pies. People found it difficult to be suspicious of them. Also, the majority of American men were physically and psychologically dependent upon cigarettes. They did not want to believe bad news about something that would have been hard to give up. Finally, the nation had developed a large economic stake in tobacco and thus was resistant to any information which could have endangered the success of both the industry and southern agriculture.
    Mounting Evidence
    During the 1950s, the evidence became increasingly difficult to ignore. In 1954, a landmark study of smoking habits and mortality among physicians appeared in the British Medical Journal. Health professionals considered it the most impressive evidence to date of the life-shortening effects of smoking. By the middle of the decade there was a significant amount of solid medical evidence which indicated that cigarette smoking increased the risk of lung cancer and other diseases. The data continued to accumulate throughout the decade. In 1957 and 1959 U.S. Surgeon General Leroy Burney issued statements indicating that the evidence was sufficient to implicate smoking as a causal factor in lung cancer.
    As the data came in, not only was its consistency undeniable, but the list of specific adverse effects of cigarette smoking continued to grow. What had started out as just a "lung cancer scare" had become a more broadly based "health threat". By 1960, the distribution of free cigarettes at annual medical and public health meetings stopped.
    The tobacco industry (and articles in the popular press) continued to assert that there was still "controversy" over the health effects of smoking. Still, it rushed to develop a cigarette that consumers would perceive as "less harmful". In 1950, only about two percent of cigarettes manufactured in the U.S. were filtered. Over the next several years the percentage of filtered cigarettes continued to grow. By the end of the decade it had reached 50 percent.
    Regulatory Action in the 1960s
    By the early 1960s, the scientific evidence against cigarette smoking was overwhelming. Titus, when the first report of the Surgeon General’s advisory committee was released in 1964, it merely made official what the scientific community had known for some time. Surrounded by "No Smoking" signs, reporters heard the grim warnings of the nation’s chief physician, Surgeon General Luther Terry, and his ten- member panel of experts.
    One week after the release of Surgeon General’s report, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed that all cigarette packages and advertising be required to carry-a strong warning of the hazards of smoking. Although a weaker version of the health warning did appear on cigarette packages beginning in 1966, it represented more of a victory for the tobacco industry than for public health. Instead of the explicit warning on cigarette packages and advertising called for by the FTC, the industry orchestrated (周密策划) a Congressional mandate (授权) for a vague "may be hazardous to your health" statement on cigarette packages only. (The warning did not appear in cigarette advertising until several years later.)
    The anti-smoking ads were apparently effective in encouraging many to quit--so effective, in fact, that the cigarette industry announced its eagerness to withdraw all television and radio advertising. (Manufacturers knew that if cigarette ads were taken from the air, the free anti-smoking messages would have to go also.) A bill emerged from Congress in 1969, which banned all cigarette ads from the air as of midnight January 1, 1971. On New Year’s Day of that year, the "Marlboro Man" rode across the screen for the last time in a U.S. commercial.
    Cigarettes in the 1970s and 1980s
    In contrast to previous years, the remainder of the 1970s and the 1980s saw less federal regulatory and legislative action concerning cigarettes. The FFC finally succeeded in ordering cigarette manufacturers to carry a health warning in all print advertising. (As expected, there had been a rapid proliferation in magazines, and newspapers of the cigarette ads which had been removed from the airwaves.) In 1984, Congress required that the single warning label be replaced with four labels, rotating every three months, and later banned smoking on virtually all domestic flights. Surgeon General led the nation in the fight against tobacco-related disease.
    Regulation of smoking was more active below the federal level. Many states and cities passed legislation banning cigarette smoking in certain public places, such as trains, buses and subway stations. The efforts of grassroots non-smoker’s rights groups encouraged localities to aggressively pass and enforce new laws prohibiting sales of cigarettes to minors and requiring non-smoking areas in restaurants, stores, theaters, sports schools and universities and government buildings. [br] The primary purpose of the text is to discuss dangers of smoking.
选项 A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案 B
解析 主旨题 根据关键词the primary purpose可知此题考查的是文章的主旨。查读文章标题和小标题可知本文主要讲述的是美国禁烟的历史。
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