Throughout much of the 19th century, smoking held a cherished place in American culture. An endless stream of advertisements and media portrayals built an entire lifestyle around the habit. The notion that smoking posed serious health risks hadn't yet taken root in the public consciousness the way it has today, and a powerful network of lobbyists worked hard to ensure things stayed exactly that way.
Research linking smoking to poor health did exist — Dr. John Parasandola conducted one such study back in 1929 — but these findings failed to shift how the general public felt about cigarettes. These were the formidable barriers standing in the way of US Surgeon General Leroy Burney as he set out to demonstrate that smoking posed a grave threat to human health.
Leroy Burney assembled a team in 1956, placing E. Cuyler Hammond and Daniel Horn at its helm, and partnered with the Public Health Service and voluntary health organizations to systematically review 18 studies linking smoking to lung cancer. When their analysis wrapped up, the team confirmed a clear connection between smoking and lung cancer.
Armed with these findings, Burney went public on July 12, 1957, declaring that smoking was one of the causes of lung cancer. The tobacco industry wasted no time attacking his statement, dismissing the results as statistical nonsense and arguing they couldn't be taken seriously because none of the studies had involved human subjects — conveniently ignoring the fact that conducting such a study on humans was not permitted.
Leroy Burney's efforts to warn Americans about the hazards of smoking ultimately fell short. Still, the statements he issued in 1957 and 1959 arguably paved the way for Luther Terry, serving as US Surgeon General under President Lyndon B., to launch a landmark examination of smoking and health in 1964. Neither of these investigations managed to reshape public attitudes toward cigarettes at the time. In fact, annual cigarette consumption continued climbing, eventually reaching a peak of 600 billion cigarettes in 1981.
Though Leroy Burney didn't succeed in persuading the public that smoking was harmful, history ultimately vindicated him.
It is arguably thanks to the tireless work of Burney and other public officials that society today understands the serious dangers that smoking presents.