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Smoking GI Joes will be a dying breed if report has its way

Agence France-Presse – SCMP

The iconic image of the US soldier, muddy and tired, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth could become a thing of the past if the Pentagon accepts new calls for a ban on tobacco products in the military.

An Institute of Medicine report, requested by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs, says an anti-tobacco policy could make the military “virtually tobacco-free within 20 years”. The report found the proportion of smokers in the US armed forces was higher than in the civilian population, with 32 per cent of military personnel using tobacco products, compared with 20 per cent of civilians.

Troops on deployment were twice as likely to be smokers than home-based counterparts. The Defence Department spent US$564 million in 2006 treating tobacco-related illness.

“There are numerous reasons the military would support the goal of becoming tobacco-free, such as improved military readiness, better health of [the] force, and decreased health care costs,” the report said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Department of Defence had long recognised the health effects of smoking.

“The federal government and the US military were the first to go smoke-free in their office buildings,” he said.

But the study criticised the military for its continued subsidies of tobacco products sold on military bases.

“The committee believes the department should not sell products that are known to impair military readiness and health,” the report said.

But it acknowledged the difficulty of phasing out smoking, noting the habit had “long been associated with the image of a tough, fearless warrior”.

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