Preventing injuries and violence through science and action. In the 1940s-50s, scientists began to apply the scientific approach to studying injury, as with classic diseases. This helped shape the idea that injuries are both predictable and preventable. In the early 1970s, CDC started research on injuries and the work was housed within environmental health. The 1985 report, Injury in America, by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, showed injury as a major public health problem in the country. This report found that injury research was not a priority, there was no central agency responsible for reducing the burden of injury, and funding was inadequate. It called for the formation of a Center for Injury Control. In 1986, Congress funded a comprehensive injury control pilot program that became a division within the environmental health center. Based on the injury division’s ground-breaking work, Congress passed the Injury Control Act of 1990, reauthorizing CDC’s injury program for another three 3 years. On June 25, 1992, CDC formally established the Injury Center. NCIPCanniver25thlogo.jpg

Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection