Surgeon General report links more health problems to smoking tobacco

The Surgeon General’s office has significantly expanded the already long list of diseases caused by smoking cigarettes to now include diabetes, arthritis, liver and colorectal cancers, birth defects such as cleft palate and cleft lip, and more.

In a 980-page report issued Friday, acting Surgeon General Dr. Boris Lushniak and his staff outlined the latest research, which for the first time draws a direct correlation between cigarette smoke and the development of said diseases. The research does not suggest that all cases of these illnesses are the result of cigarette smoke, but it does say that smoking increases the risk of developing them.

The announcement came at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1967 Surgeon General’s report which first declared smoking a human health hazard. At the event, Lushniak noted the efforts to reign in the use of cigarettes — only 18 percent of adults smoke compared to 42% in 1964.

But he also reminded the public of the toll cigarettes have taken over the last 50 years: “Since the first surgeons general report in 1964 over 20 million premature deaths can be attributed to cigarette smoking. Today the annual death toll from smoking is approaching 500,000 per year,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

The report also cautions that the government may not meet its goal of reducing its rate of adult smokers to 12 percent by 2020. According to the report, nearly half a million people will die from smoking-related diseases this year. And if current trends continue, 5.6 million of today’s children and teens will go on to die prematurely because of smoking.