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On this date in the year 1964, a federal government panel reported that cigarettes were a major health hazard and called for corrective action against cigarette usage. The panel reported that smoking cigarettes is a major cause of disease, especially lung cancer. Overall, they reported that cigarettes have the potential to cause an earlier death. It was a widespread belief that cigarette filters could reduce these health risks but the panel also reported that this was not the case. The panel consisted of 10 scientists who worked on the study for over 14 months. Soon after the Public Health Service investigated the report and jumped on board with the findings. Because the report found so many links between smoking cigarettes and diseases/health problems, drastic changes would later occur in the cigarette industry. Up to this point, many people thought that the habit of smoking was not seriously detrimental to their health. After this report came out a significant drop occurred in the number of smokers.Changes in the medical field also happened. Doctors began warning their patients of the dangers caused by smoking cigarettes. Surprisingly a year before this report came out, the Agricultural Department found a record number of people smoked cigarettes in 1963. The number was somewhere around 522 billion cigarettes were smoked by Americans. Large tobacco producing companies were allowed to react to the report's findings on television. Several of the tobacco companies argued that there was no medical proof that could prove smoking as a health hazard. According to the tobacco Institute, cigarette consumption was rising quickly each year. In the year 1955, cigarette consumption in America was slightly below 400 billion while in 1965, it was somewhere around 522.9 billion. Needless to say, the findings would affect billions of people around the world. Luther Leonidas Terry was the Surgeon general who would report the warning that tobacco is a health hazard.