C. Everett Koop has made a name for himself fighting big tobacco interests. He led the charge during the late 1980s and early 1990s as Surgeon General to the US government. He remains an activist against the pro-tobacco lobby and described the industry at the weekend as "renegades".
"The public is now fully aware that the tobacco industry has lied to them," he told delegates to the American Association meeting in Philadelphia. The industry knew its products were addictive and caused health damage, but did not warn the public and refused to admit it despite overwhelming proofs.
The first successful liability case for damages caused by tobacco had helped change the situation, he said, and similar court actions being attempted in France and Britain would further damage the industry.
Ireland now also has liability cases underway in the courts. The industry, health interests and the government were currently trying to draft legislation on controlling tobacco, he said.
"The best thing we in the US can do for the rest of the world is to prepare very comprehensive tobacco control measures which can be used as a role model overseas."
Education campaigns against smoking must "never end," he suggested. The incidence of smoking amongst young people in the US was beginning to rise for the first time in over 30 years.
"You have to think when would you intervene in a kid's life, before when he thinks `Smoking is cool, I want to try that'. This should be as early as eight, long before he tries smoking at 13."
