On April 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law. This act required a Surgeon General’s warning label on packets of cigarettes and banned cigarette advertisements on TV and radio.

Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act in response to Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry's 1964 report which found that lung cancer and chronic bronchitis related to cigarette smoking. In 1965, Congress passed the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act requiring all cigarette packages to carry a health warning. After a recommendation by the Federal Trade Commission, Congress required the Surgeon General to make the warnings on cigarettes. The warning read: Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined that Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health.

The Federal Trade Commission also recommended banning cigarette advertisements on TV and radio. However, TV and radio continued to advertise cigarettes because of the money it generated. But TV and radio stations often failed to show the drawbacks of smoking cigarettes and were breaking the Fairness Doctrine – which required that controversial issues were presented in a balanced way with equal air time.

The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act was introduced into Congress in 1969, and it was signed into law by President Nixon on April 1, 1970. In 1984, Congress amended the act again to require more specific warnings on cigarette packages.