'Let them smoke and die': How Aussies reacted to smoking cancer link in 1964
In 1964, a major scientific report laid bare the deadly risks of smoking, at a time when the tobacco industry had a stronghold on the public and government coffers. Delve into the ABC Archives to discover how Australians reacted.
It's been 62 years to the day since a definitive link between smoking and lung cancer was made public, confirming what experts had feared for decades.
The United States government report clearly identified the significant public health risk to both smokers and non-smokers, and became a catalyst for major policy reform.
Over the past six decades a lot has changed, including widespread smoking bans and education campaigns.
The groundbreaking 1964 scientific report laid bare the deadly dangers of smoking. (ABC Archives)
Anti-smoking campaigners had long been trying to shift the tide away from the hugely lucrative tobacco industry, but progress was slow.
The comprehensive 1964 report put a new impetus on governments to act, due to some staggering statistics, not least that cigarette smoking was responsible for a whopping 70 per cent increase in the mortality rate of smokers.
The United States Surgeon General Luther Terry officially released the report at a major press conference in Washington on January 11, 1964.
Here's how the ABC in Australia covered the groundbreaking report and its aftermath in 1964.
"In this age of the ashtray, where there's smoke, there's finance," the journalist said, while viewers see a production line of cigarettes.
"Australians are among the world's freest spenders on tobacco and cigarettes," the journalist explains.
At the time of the report Australia had a 55 million-a-day habit, and the industry was spending big on advertising.
So it continued to thrive "in the face of wide publicity for overseas reports that claim smoking is a hazard to health", the journalist explained.
Respected Australian immunologist and Nobel laureate Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet called for restrictions on cigarette advertising.
"The most important thing, I think, is to stop young people from starting smoking cigarettes," the respected scientist said in a 1964 ABC news report.
"How to do that, well I don't know but there are two or three things I think could be done: one is to diminish or abolish advertising.
"And what I would like to see is a good few of the well known athletes coming out and saying cigarettes are no good for youngsters."
Sir Frank went on to explain that people with public profiles should lead by example.
"I think we've got to have some emotional indication that the cigarette is a danger and is inappropriate for, well athletes or people who really want to have a status in the community."