Fifty years ago, the smoking rate in the United States began a long and steady decline, which has rightly been hailed as a profound health advance. But by declaring a “successful” campaign against cigarettes—and the devastation they have wrought—we are celebrating victory with the enemy still among us.
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Kenneth Warner is a professor of public health at the University of Michigan.
Harold A. Pollack is a professor of social-service administration at the University of Chicago and a fellow at the Century Foundation. He is the author, with Helaine Olen, of The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated.