Acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak released a new report on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary since the first surgeon general warning in 1964 started the anti-smoking movement, the Associated Press reported.
In the new report, Lushniak said though tremendous progress has been made in the direction to lower smoking in the United States, if more steps are not taken the government will not reach their goal to drop the smoking rate to 12 percent by 2020, according to the AP.
Since the anti-smoking movement began, the percent of adults who smoke has dropped to 18 percent today compared to the 42 percent in 1964, the AP reported.
"The real emphasis needs to be put on the fact that we still have a major and tragic catastrophe going on," Lushniak said, according to the AP.
The report also said the U.S. is currently spending more than $130 billion a year on treatment for smoking-caused illnesses, but since smoking has declined, the amount of people diagnosed with lung cancer has also declined, the AP reported.
According to the report, "the tobacco industry continues to introduce and market new products that establish and maintain nicotine addiction" like the e-cigarettes, which has seen a spike in teen use since 2011, according to the AP.
If the tobacco companies are allowed to continue marketing and producing new products without any further restrictions on them, the report concluded 5.6 million kids and teens will go on to smoke and die from smoking-related issues, the AP reported.
Lushniak recommended "research into new ideas" that could reduce the amount of smokers in the U.S. and said "a resolve to end smoking by increasing use of proven tobacco-control measures" like price hikes on cigarettes should be used more, according to the AP.
The report states that every 10 percent increase in cigarette price, a four percent drop in smoking occurs, according to the AP. "We know that increasing the cost of cigarettes is one of the most powerful interventions we can make."
The report also mentioned lowering the nicotine levels in cigarettes would help people stop smoking, and is a measure which should be looked into by officials, the AP reported.
Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, erectile dysfunction, the macular degeneration that can blind older adults and two additional cancers: liver and colorectal, have all been added to the list of diseases caused by smoking, according to the AP.
