Yet in the developed world during the latter half of the twentieth century, a belief that the threat to health from the environment was largely contained, coupled with an
improved understanding of pathological mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels, saw public health priorities shift away from the environment towards individual behaviours and lifestyle choices. More enlightened thinking emerging in the 1970s e partly driven by spiralling healthcare costs e recognized that even if they were effective, policies directly targeting unhealthy behaviours frequently increased social
inequalities in health.