In 1957 the United Kingdom was first informed of a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.
The medical research council declared on this day that there is a ‘direct cause and effect’ link between smoking and lung cancer. The study was carried out to identify the cause for the huge increase in diagnosis of lung cancer in the previous 25 years and it was concluded that smoking was the cause.
At the time no other study had made such claims and the tobacco company brushed off the findings as their opinion rather than fact. Although the UK government declared the findings as ‘authoritative opinion’ the health secretary promised not to ban smoking and leave the decision up to the consumer. In many polls smokers seemed un-phased by the findings and shares of tobacco companies were unaffected.
The findings of by the Medical Research Council were confirmed by similar studies since including the report by the United States Surgeon General Luther L. Terry which was released on the 11th of January 1964. This was the first official study in the United States on the matter and the two year review also found a direct link. The findings of the US report dominated the news, which was deliberately released on a Saturday so as not to affect the stock market too badly, shocked the entire nation of the United States.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year and 600,000 of those deaths are caused from second hand smoke.
In 1991 Yugoslavia Invaded Slovenia having just declared its independence.
With the breakup of Austro Hungry after World War I some of its territories united and eventually formed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on the 3rd of October 1929. On the 6th of April 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded by the German led Axis powers and by the 17th Yugoslavia had signed an Armistice and unconditional surrender to the Axis powers. Yugoslavian partisans, led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, fought against occupation and by the end of the war their leader Martial Josip Tito headed the new government. In order to deal with nationalistic aspirations Tito created six republics of Yugoslavia known as Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia. The Federation lasted, despite ethnic differences, until the 25th of June 1991 when Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. Two days later Yugoslavia invaded Slovenia in the hopes of regaining control but after a ten day war Yugoslav forces began to withdraw from Slovenia and it gained its independence.
