Health

 Time -In Jan., the now-former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for new cancer warning labels on alcohol-containing beverages. It’s an important and potentially life-saving step, since the current warning labels haven’t been updated since their introduction in 1988 and only half of Americans know alcohol is associated with cancer.

However, the history of tobacco policy suggests the need for caution. Indeed, when Congress decided to first label cigarette packages in 1965, it was seen as a triumph for public health. But the law, which required the warning, “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health,” was so vague and watered down that it did not significantly reduce smoking rates. Instead, it shut the door on more meaningful regulations and, in the name of compromise, consolidated industry power. In fact, the greatest beneficiary of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 ended up being Big Tobacco.

During the early 1960s, roughly 40% of Americans smoked—with limited awareness that tobacco was cancerous. However, in 1964, the Surgeon General released a landmark report, definitively linking smoking to lung cancer and helping convince between 70% and 80% of Americans about these health risks. In an interview, Allan Brandt professor of the history of science at Harvard University said that the report also led to a range of regulatory action, from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) going after tobacco companies’ “unfair or deceptive” practices to 20 states targeting the promotion of cigarettes.