This sea change in the habits of a country had unexpected ramifications for public health. Even in the early years of the twentieth century, there had been suspicions that smoking was unhealthy, that it “irritated” the throat and caused coughing. Around mid-century, the evidence started to become a good deal more ominous. Before cigarettes, lung cancer had been so rare that a doctor might encounter it only once in a lifetime of practice. But between 1900 and 1950, the formerly rare disease quadrupled in frequency, and by 1960 it would become the most common form of cancer among men. Such a
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