Population/Based Environmental Change by Sandra Kirkland for IPS 2009

Tobacco has been woven into our culture since our country's beginning, but with the development of modern technologies and the construction of superhighways, their use, especially among our youth, has become severely problematic. In the satirical movie based on the 1995 book by Christopher Buckley, "Thank You for Smoking," one of the characters states: "We sell cigarettes. And they're cool and available and addictive. The job is almost done for us!" While tobacco has been on the American scene since colonial days, it was not until 1860 when the first cigarettes appeared that smoking began to take hold. After the first cigarette factory opened in 1864, 20 million cigarettes were produce in that year alone.

To ensure future generations of consumers, the tobacco companies began providing free tobacco to soldiers during the Civil War and continued to provide free cigarettes to soldiers in both WWI and WWII. Of the almost 15 million men serving in the armed forces at that time, approximately 51 percent were smokers. It was so endemic that reporters took photos of our war heroes with cigarettes in their hands or mouths, propagating the image of smoking as being almost patriotic. Moreover, the motion picture industry produced hundreds of films, showing our young men fighting for freedom and lighting up.

Given the attitude and the technology available to produce the perfect delivery system of smoke, tars and nicotine, half the population of the United States became addicted. Smoking had become such an epidemic that by 1901, 43 of the 45 states had outlawed their sale. However, restricting sales did not discourage the tobacco companies. RJ Reynolds introduced Camel, the first "modern" cigarette, with Lucky Strike and Chesterfield following later. In 1921, RJ Reynolds spent $8 million to advertise its Camel brand. Not to be outdone, Philip Morris joined in by introducing Marlboro brand to entice the ladies to smoke, causing RJ to go after the women's market with its Lucky Strike brand. Consequently, smoking initiation rates among adolescent females tripled between 1925-1935, and Lucky Strike captured 38% of the American market. Brown and Williamson introduced the filter cigarette, Viceroy brand, in 1936 and ever the innovator, Kool menthol cigarettes eight years later, further opening the door to claiming health benefits for cigarette smokers. Even The Journal of the American Medical Association got on the bandwagon by publishing ads for cigarettes from 1936 to 1956.

Given the addictive nature of cigarettes, is it any wonder that by the 1960s, more than 40 percent of the adult population smoked (National Center for Health Statistics 2005)? How then has it come to pass that present-day statistics show that less than 20 percent of adults smoke? Beginning with the big cancer scare of the 1960s, public awareness, policies and enforcement have come to bear on the national norms that once touted cigarette smoking as an acceptable, almost desirable, behavior.Although it took around 50 years for this huge paradigm shift to an almost “smokeless society” to happen, happen it did. This phenomenon is called environmental/population-wide prevention.