Political Quotes

“I am very pleased to be here with my colleagues, from Ohio, the Senator in the Chair, and the Senator from Connecticut who just spoke, to draw attention to this incredibly important health issue here in America: addiction to tobacco and the diseases that come from that addiction to tobacco. We are here to commemorate a report put out 50 years ago by Dr. Terry, the Surgeon General. His report was called ``Smoking and Health.'' The contents of that report shocked the world because it was issued in defiance of a powerful and profitable industry that had repeatedly denied there was any link between smoking and disease. This report made national news by telling the American public things that we now take for granted: that smoking is bad for the heart and lungs; that smoking causes cancer; and that the lives of Americans are routinely cut short due to the use of tobacco products. This single report created a powerful ripple throughout society, a ripple that has continued in the decades since, growing into a wave that has transformed public health in America and saved an astonishing number of lives. Thomas Friedan, the current Director of the Center for Disease Control, says no other single report has had as large an effect on public health. The Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that 8 million have been saved by the antismoking measures that were launched, directly or indirectly, because of this report.…”