Why smoking is more deadly and addictive than it was 50 years ago

EMILY PAYNE

dailymail.co.uk

Cigarettes are more dangerous than ever due to a wealth of tactics adopted by tobacco companies over the last 50 years, a charity has warned.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has produced a revealing infographic which lays out exactly how cigarettes have changed in the last five decades.

Doctors at the charity say that cigarettes today pose an even greater risk of disease than those sold in 1964 when the first warning about the health dangers came from the Surgeon General in the U.S.

Deadlier than ever: The report illustrates how cigarettes have changed over the last 50 years

The charity's research is based on a review of scientific studies and tobacco industry documents, as well as the Surgeon General's report.

It found that today's smokers have a much higher risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than in 1964  - despite smoking fewer cigarettes.

This is due to 'changes in the design and composition of cigarettes'.

The charity claims that over the past 50 years, tobacco manufacturers have designed and marketed ever more sophisticated products that are 'effective in creating and sustaining addiction to nicotine,' more appealing to new young smokers and much more harmful.

'They took a deadly and addictive product and made it worse, putting smokers at even greater risk of addiction, disease and death,' the report, Designed for Addiction, says.