New Government Report Says Smoking Caused 390,000 U.S. Deaths in 1987

Oct 13, 2026

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Government officials and Dr. C. Everett Koop, the U.S. Surgeon General, report that smoking is the nation’s number one preventable cause of death. The report marks 25 years since the first Surgeon General’s smoking warning and states that smoking caused about 390,000 U.S. deaths in 1987, far more than illegal drugs combined. Evidence links smoking most strongly to lung cancer and highlights progress in reducing smoking rates while emphasizing the need to stop youth initiation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

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# New Government Report SaysSmoking Caused 390,000 U.S.Deaths in 1987 Snuf out yourcigarette be-fore it snufjs out your life. That's the simple,yetpowerful,message that Dr. C.Everett Koop wants to getacross to the estimated 70million Americans whosmoke.Dr.Koop is the U.S.Surgeon General-the nation's top medical officer. Earlier this month,Dr.Koop released a 649-pagereporton the health dangersof smoking.The reportmarked 25 years since the # CURRENT EVENTS The Most Deadly Habit first Surgeon General's re-port on smoking was issuedin 1964.In those 25 years,said Dr.Koop,there hasbeen much progress in get-ting Americans to stopsmoking.But smoking re-mains the nation's numberone preventable cause ofdeath.In 1987,said Dr.Koop,smoking caused some390,000 deaths in the U.S.,“more than one out of everysix deaths in the UnitedStates,or more than 1,000 deaths each day."In all,says the Surgeon General,smoking killed 100 timesmore people in 1987 than allillegal drugs combined.Here are smoking-relateddeaths,by disease: ●Heart Disease-115,000deaths; ●Lung Cancer-106,000deaths; Other Lung Diseases- 57,000 deaths; ●Other Cancers-31,600deaths; Stroke-26,500 deaths; Other Disease-53,900deaths. Sclontists obtain staistcal ovidence by sudyng Lwo groupe of poopb-amoloern snd nonamokers for long periods of time,USualy year.Ithe smokors show afor grear incidence olung cancer,lor instance,thi miohnt be consideredstaistical ovidence that smoking contribulo4e 二 r Scientists base their find-ings that smoking is a majorcause of these diseasesfromstatistical evidence.Thisevidence is strongest in thecase of lung cancer.Accord-ingto the Surgeon General'sreport,an estimated 87 per-cent of all lung cancerdeaths in 1987 were causedby smoking.And new stud-ies show average malesmokers are 22 times morelikely to die of lung cancerthan non-smokers. Scientists base their find-ings that smoking is a majorcause of these diseasesfromstatistical evidence.Thisevidence is strongest in thecase of lung cancer.Accord-ingto the Surgeon General'sreport,an estimated 87 per-cent of all lung cancerdeaths in 1987 were causedby smoking.And new stud-ies show average malesmokers are 22 times morelikely to die of lung cancerthan non-smokers. Mainly because of smok-ing,says the report,lungcancer is now the leading Mainly because of smok-ing,says the report,lungcancer is now the leading Continued on Next Page cause of cancer deaths inU.S.men.Since 1986,lungcancer has also become theleading cause of cancerdeaths in U.S.women. # 25 Years of Progress Despite these grim facts,the 1989 Surgeon General'sreport on smoking remainedstrongly hopeful.Dr.Koopsaid that the nation has al-ready made enormous pro-gress in cutting back on itsnicotine habit since 1964.Inthe last 25 years: ● The percentage of U.S.smokers has declined from40 percent of the populationto 29 percent. ●Nearly 45 percent ofU.S.adults who eversmoked have quit.Between1964 and 1987,some789,000 smoking-relateddeaths were avoided or post-poned as a result of individ- 9 2 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 uals deciding to quitsmoking or not to start. The percentage of U.S.men smokers declined fromaround 50 percent in 1964to less than 33 percent to-day.The·percentage ofwomen smokers declinedfrom 32 percent to 27 per-cent,while smokers amongblacks dropped from 43 per-cent to 34 percent. "These changes repre-sent nothing less than arev-olution in behavior,"saidDr.Koop. Young People According to Dr.Koop,the largest task ahead in thebattle against smoking willbe to convince young peoplenot to smoke.According tothis year's Surgeon Gener-al's report,the proportion ofpeople who begin smokingduring their teen years has MAN IN THE newS been increasing.Nearly onein five high school seniorssmokes cigarettes today-despite repeated healthwarnings.And fifty percentof these young smokers hadtheir first cigarette by theeighth grade.Some startedas early as the sixth grade.Dr.Koop

FAQs

What does the government report say smoking causes in the U.S. in 1987?

Smoking caused about 390,000 deaths in the United States in 1987, according to Dr. Koop’s report.

How is smoking linked to disease in the report?

The report explains the evidence is strongest for lung cancer, estimating that 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in 1987 were caused by smoking.

What progress is described over the 25 years since the first Surgeon General report?

The article notes smoking rates declined and many former smokers quit, with reduced percentages of male, female, and Black smokers.

Oct 13, 2026

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