US History of Tobacco

Video Transcript

"Now, after 1492, with Christopher Columbus bringing the first tobacco plants back to Europe, the first commercial tobacco crop is grown in America in 1612. After this, tobacco is consumed by either chewing it, or through a ground process called snuff. In 1730, the first tobacco factories are open and are called snuff mills. Another hundred and thirty years go by before a new product is delivered for tobacco. During the Civil War, troops were rationed in the north with tobacco products. 1864, the first cigarette factories are opened and cigarettes are sold on the market. In 1900, Washington, Iowa, North Dakota and Tennessee banned the sale of cigarette products in their states. Shortly after, forty-one states, after that, banned the sale of products until 1927 when most cigarette laws were repealed. In 1910, only 94 cigarettes, on average, were consumed by each American citizen. By 1940, over twenty-five hundred cigarettes per person are sold in the United States. By 1964, the first Surgeon General's report on smoking and health is released. In 1971, cigarette, the Congress of the United States banned the sale, or banned the commercialization of cigarettes in radio and television advertisements. By 1994, Mississippi becomes the first state to challenge the tobacco companies and sue them for the health care costs of, associated with, smoking tobacco. And by 1998, forty-six states had settled the law suit with the tobacco companies to cover these health issues."