[1]Before Dr. Luther L. Terry, then the Surgeon General of the United States, issued his office's first "Report on Smoking and Health" more than 30 years ago, thousands of articles had already been written on the effects of tobacco use on the human body.

[2] Tobacco companies had countered the reports--which purported to show links between smoking and cancer and other serious diseases--with denials and competing studies.

[3] So in 1964, Terry and his Advisory Coittee on Smoking and Health knew they were stepping into a major pit of controversy when they announced "cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action".

[4] It was America's first widely publicized acknowledgment that smoking cigarettes is a cause of serious diseases.

[5] But the issue wasn't settled in 1964, nor is it settled in 1997, despite literally thousands more studies--and litigation that has forced at least one tobacco company to admit what some activists say they knew all along: cigarette smoke is hazardous to your health.

[6] More than 30 years--and more than 20 Surgeon General reports--later, the issue appears headed for settlement in the courtroom rather than the laboratory.

30多年前，在當時美國的衛生局局長路德·L·特里博士發表他上任以來的第一份“有關吸煙與健康的報告”之前，已經有成千上萬篇關于吸對人體健康影響的發表了。
[2]煙草公司對這些旨在表明吸煙和癌癥以及其他疾病之間有關系的報告采取抵制的態度——予以否認，并提出分庭抗禮的研究報告。

[3]所以，在1964年，特里和他的吸煙與健康咨詢委員會就明白了，在他們宣布“吸煙危害健康，在美國應引起人們足夠的重視，有必要采取適當的補救措施”時，他們就踏人了一個爭論的大坑中了。

[4]那是美國廣泛宣傳，承認吸煙會導致嚴重的疾病。

[5]但是這個問題在1964年沒有得到解決，在1997年還是沒有解決，盡管確實又進行了數千項研究——且提起的訴訟已迫使至少一煙草公司承認一些禁煙活動積極分子的說法，其實也是他們一直都明白的：吸煙對人體有危害。

[6]30多年以來，有20多位衛生局局長提出報告，此后，這個問題似乎是走向法庭解決，而不是在實驗室解決。