ABSTRACT
The first major intervention of the state in health promotion came in the form of a discussion document produced under the authority of Labour health minister David Owen in 1976, entitled Prevention and Health: Everybody’s Business (DHSS 1976). Its central theme was that ‘much of the responsibility for ensuring his own good health lies with the individual’ (DHSS 1976:95). A White Paper, published the following year, with the same title, put the same message in a hectoring tone:
Much ill-health in Britain today arises from over-indulgence and unwise behaviour. The individual can do much to help himself, his family and the community by accepting more direct responsibility for his own health and well-being.
