Pentagon study wants tobacco out of military
The troops were getting worried. The possibility of a ban on tobacco in war zones could make some really stressed out people even more stressed out. No worries though! The Pentagon assured them on Wednesday that they don’t have to quit…yet.
According to the Associated Press, a recent study recommended that the military slowly become tobacco free.
The study was conducted by the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department. They’re suggesting that more aggressive measures be taken to eliminate tobacco use. They’re not saying that it needs to be done immediately. Their goal is in the next 20 years. Some ideas for doing this include banning recruits from smoking and outlawing tobacco in military academies.
This isn’t the first time that the Pentagon is encouraging troops to cut down on tobacco consumption. In 1999 the Pentagon set out to decrease smoking by 5 percent and chewing tobacco by 15 percent by 2001. It didn’t quite work. Now, they’re noticing an increase in tobacco use, which may be because of deployed soldiers. The study noted that although tobacco use in America is decreasing, tobacco use in the military has remained high. In 2005, one-third of members in the active duty military smoked compared to one-fifth of the adult U.S. population.
Now, it’s impossible to say that any type of tobacco use could be beneficial to your health. Nonetheless this is getting a lot of flack. Soldiers are saying that they deserve the right to smoke and, sure, since we’re Americans, we have special rights to do many things.
Still, this ban would only do more good than harm…if the Pentagon can get it to happen.
andrea @ July 17, 2009