Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service
(U.S. Federal government public health advocate) The U.S. Surgeon General's office has found since 1964 that tobacco use causes disease in humans.Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service was Leroy E. Burney M.D. under Eisenhower in 1957. Luther L. Terry M.D. was Surgeon General under Kennedy/Johnson from 1961 to 1965. William H. Stewart M.D. was Surgeon General under Johnson from 1965 to 1969. Jesse L. Steinfeld, M.D. was Surgeon General under Nixon (1969?-?). S. Paul Ehrlich, M.D. Surgeon General under Nixon/Ford. Julius Richmond, M.D. was Surgeon General under Carter in 1979. C. Everett Koop, M.D. was Surgeon General under Reagan from 1981 to 1989. Antonia/Antonio? C. Novello M.D. was Surgeon General under Bush from 1990 to 1993. Joycelyn S. Elders M.D. was Surgeon General under Clinton from 1993 to present. The 1964 Surgeon General's report concluded that: "The habitual use of tobacco is related primarily to psychological and social drives, reinforced and perpetuated by the pharmacological actions of nicotine on the center nervous system. Nicotine-free tobacco or other plant materials do not satisfy the needs of those who acquire the tobacco habit. . . . The Tobacco habit should be characterized as an habituation rather than an addiction" (Tobacco Control 1992). Members of the Surgeon General's advisory committee on smoking and health from 1961 to 1964 are: Stanhope Bayne-Jones M.D., LL.D., former Dean of Yale School of Medicine; Walter J. Burdette M.D., Ph.D., Head of Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine; William G. Cochran, M.A., Professor of Statistics, Harvard University; Emmanuel Farber M.D. Ph.D., Chairman, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh; Louis F. Feiser Ph. D., Professor of Organic Chemistry, Harvard University; Jacob Furth M.D., Professor of Pathology, Columbia University; John B. Hickman M.D., Chairman, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Indiana; Charles LeMaistre M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School; Leonard M. Schuman M.D., Professor of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota School of Public Health; Maurice H. Seevers M.D. Ph.D., Chairman, Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan (E. Whelan 1984).