A Not-So-Happy Anniversary

By Anastasia Toufexis

Many people look back on Jan. 11, 1964, as a pivotal date in their lives. On that day U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry warned about the deadly dangers of tobacco in a blockbuster report. Frightened smokers promptly resolved to give up the habit; some scared souls stubbed out cigarettes on the spot. Last week the Federal Government marked the 25th anniversary of that first alarm with a new Surgeon General's report that charts the progress in the war against tobacco. The past quarter-century has seen "a revolution in smoking behavior," declared C. Everett Koop, the current Surgeon General. "In the 1940s and '50s, smoking was chic; now, increasingly, it is shunned." But, he continued, tobacco is still "the single most important preventable cause of death, responsible for 1 out of every 6 deaths in the U.S."

The most disturbing news in the 679-page report was the assertion that smoking has exacted a heavier toll in death and disease than had previously been thought. Among the findings:

-- Tobacco claims 390,000 lives a year, 90,000 more than earlier estimates. Two-thirds of those deaths result from cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and chronic respiratory ailments like emphysema. The average male smoker is 22 times as likely to die from lung cancer as is a nonsmoker, double the previous risk estimate.

-- For the first time, the Government has concluded that smoking is a major cause of stroke, accounting for an estimated 26,500 deaths a year. Half of all strokes in people under 65 stem from smoking.

-- While the incidence of lung cancer has been leveling off for men, it has been rising among women. The report cites the American Cancer Society's estimate that lung cancer has surpassed breast malignancies as the second leading cause of death among women. "Women took up smoking in large numbers about three decades after men did so," explained Koop. "We can envision the catastrophic epidemic of lung cancer that is likely to occur among women in the coming years."

On the bright side, the U.S. has made substantial strides in curtailing cigarette use. Only 29% of adults now light up, down from 40% in 1965. The biggest decline has been among men: 50% smoked in 1965, less than a third today. Nearly half of all living adults who have ever smoked have quit -- at least for a while.

But the progress has not been spread equally over various groups in the population. Smoking among blacks and blue-collar workers is higher than average. Level of education is the best predictor of tobacco use: the more years of schooling people have, the less likely they are to smoke.

Cigarette use was declining among teenagers, but has now leveled off. Children, especially girls, are taking up tobacco at a younger age. Among high school seniors who have ever smoked, a quarter took their first puff by the sixth grade and half by the eighth. Restrictions on children's access to cigarettes have weakened; many stores routinely ignore minimum-age-of- purchaser laws.

The tobacco industry, used to harsh reports from the Surgeon General, tried to blunt the latest attack with newspaper ads saying that "enough is enough." Said Brennan Dawson, a spokeswoman for the Tobacco Institute: "The report represents an escalation in the antismoking campaign." Surgeon General Koop certainly hopes so. His stated goal is to make the U.S. a "smoke-free society by the year 2000."

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE

CREDIT: TIME Chart by Joe Lertola

CAPTION: KICKING THE HABIT

With reporting by Dick Thompson/Washington