Smoking

The leaves of the tobacco plant were originally harvested and smoked by Native Americans and were introduced to Europe by Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. The botanical name for tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum, is derived from Jean Nicot, who sent the tobacco leaf to the Queen of France in the 16th century. During the late 18th century, packaged cigarettes and cigars rapidly gained popularity. Although it was suspected in the early 20th century that tobacco was linked to throat and mouth cancers, it was not until 1964 when the US government released the document titled Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. It has since been the prominent topic of most annual Surgeon General Reports.

The original report was an objective review of literature that pointed to tobacco use as being causal to a number of deleterious health conditions. There has since been much research conducted, and many new findings regarding the disease-causing aspects of tobacco smoking have been elucidated. Despite the widely published results of this research tobacco smoking-related illnesses remain the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.