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History: European explorers who arrived in the Western Hemisphere in the 1500s observed Native Americans smoking tobacco plant leaves in pipes. The colonists who followed them grew tobacco plants as a cash crop for export, and smoking became part of European culture by the 1600s. Most tobacco was consumed in pipes and cigars or as snuff (finely pulverized tobacco inhaled into the nostrils). This pattern changed by the early 20th century, by which time smokers …

…have faced increased pressure from smoking-related lawsuits and federal regulators to accept prevailing scientific opinions about the health risks of smoking. In late 1999 Philip Morris, the nation's largest cigarette maker, publicly acknowledged that smoking is addictive and causes serious health problems. This latest move is considered a way to make it more difficult for those who have recently started smoking to claim they were unaware of the dangers if they choose to sue cigarette companies.