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[MUSIC]
2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the first
Surgeon General's Report on smoking and health.
This series of videos celebrates the progress made-and
the work still to be done-to end tobacco-related disease and
death and to make the next generation tobacco free.
[Madeleine Solomon] When I was growing up in the '50s, one of
my favorite items in the house was a music box that was on
my parents' coffee table, and it was a music box that played
"Oh My Papa."
And as the music was played, doors would open, and in each
door there were cigarettes that my mother would carefully
place for the guests.
[Narrator] For most children growing up in the United States
from the end of World War II forward, cigarettes were as much
a part of home life as sitting down for a family dinner.
But things began to change with the release of the
1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking and health.
[Madeleine Solomon] We've changed the social norm.
And the way to do that is by changing the environment
so that no longer is tobacco use seen as attractive.
So when you think of what
we have achieved in the last 50 years.
No home would have as its centerpiece on its end table or
coffee table a music box that served cigarettes.
In the community level, the smoke-free air policies
have been most powerful.
And one of the things that I got the most satisfaction from
was when my own hometown went smoke-free.
[Narrator] Although progress has been significant, the public
health community knows there is plenty of work left to be done.
[Madeleine Solomon] There is a need to continue the education,
to continue to change policies.
Only 50 percent of the states have strong
smoke-free air policies.
We know that we can change the environment so that tobacco is
no longer attractive, it's less accessible, and
fewer young people will want to engage in the practice.
[Narrator] This video is a production of the Office of
the Surgeon General and CDC's Office on Smoking and Health.