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Tobacco usage in the US (and the world) has impacted the lives of many. It's use and health risks has been the subject of much discussion, controversy and legal action.
What is the earliest research indicating tobacco products are addictive and/or harmful to the users health?
It very much depends on what you mean by evidence, but if you're talking about major studies that produced meaningful results that actually captured people's attention, it was a series of case-control studies in 1950's, followed by a fair amount of more intensive research in the late 1950's and early 1960's.
It's a somewhat technical paper, but this paper describes both some of the early results, the medical research community's reactions to them, and the broader impacts on medical research as a field.
