Adult per capita cigarette consumption has risen steadily in the United States since early in the last century, with some modest declines in the 30s, largely due to the Great Depression, and again after the first concerns about smoking-related cancer were raised in the 1950s and the first Surgeon General's Report on smoking, followed by a more consistent decline in adult smoking prevalence beginning in the 1970s.
Though the incidence of cigarette smoking has dropped overall since the 1970s, and the incidence of lung cancer in men has leveled off, the incidence of lung cancer in women continues to rise. The push by the tobacco companies to capture the female market in the 1960s has lead to an alarming increase in the incidence of lung cancer in women beginning in the 1970s.
Several events occurred early in the 20th century that abetted the tobacco companies in the marketing of cigarettes:
- tobacco blends and curing techniques allowed cigarette smoke to be inhaled
- safety matches were invented
- production methods were improved
- distribution methods were improved
- advertising via mass media became common
- role and behavior of women became liberalized
- acceptability of smoking among women increased
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