Cigarette Regulation Quotes
The. law was enforced and upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court (Austin v State) which recognized the health danger of tobacco. Tennessee was an agricultural state where tobacco was grown and the law was repealed as the result of political pressure. But this is the first and only absolute state prohibition on tobacco that has been enacted in the United States.
This is a classic example of the interaction between legislation, health and science. In 1931 the State of Michigan passed a law to protect the public health. It was written to ensure that there would not be unhealthy or dangerous substances added to cigarettes or the tobacco in cigarettes. No “ingredient deleterious to health” could be put in a cigarette. However, although it was not generally known at the time, there are few substances known to man that are as “deleterious to health” as the tobacco itself. The law protected public health, but the enforcement did not concentrate on the right ingredients.
