Air Force expands tobacco-free environments at base installations and services

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Air Force expands tobacco-free environments at base installations and services

Posted 12/20/2012

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12/20/2012 - FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) -- In accordance with Air Force Instruction 40-102, "Tobacco Use in the Air Force," tobacco use is prohibited on installations except in designated tobacco areas and housing units.

The instruction, released in March 2012, expands tobacco-free environments, clarifies tobacco use restrictions in training environments and prohibits tobacco sales in Air Force Services establishments.

Tobacco use includes, but is not limited to, cigars, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes ("e-cigarettes"), stem pipes, water pipes, hookahs and smokeless products that are chewed, dipped, or sniffed.

All medical treatment facilities' campuses will be tobacco-free by September 2013. According to the instruction, the medical treatment campus encompasses the facility as well as its parking lots, lawns and "other outdoor areas contiguous with the medical treatment facility."

"Today, more than 3,400 civilian medical centers have established smoke-free campus policies," said Col. John Oh, the Air Force Medical Support Agency chief of health promotion. "Smoke-free policies have emerged as the social norm at medical centers. These policies increase worker productivity; help tobacco users to quit; and protect the health of others, including vulnerable populations."

Tobacco use is also prohibited for Airmen in uniform or during school duty hours in formal training courses to include professional military education, officer training school, technical training and inter-service training programs.

Tobacco free living is one of the strategic priorities of the National Prevention Strategy, which aims to move the U.S. health care system away from disease and treatment and toward prevention and wellness, Oh said. To meet this priority, the Healthy People 2020 objective for tobacco use is 12 percent. Based on the 2008 Department of Defense Survey of Health-Related Behaviors, however, 23 percent of active-duty Airmen smoke compared with 31 percent among all DOD service members.

While meeting the national goal is important, the number one thing Air Force leaders are trying to accomplish with these various initiatives is mission readiness, Oh said. For example, people who use tobacco have recorded slower run times; this means their endurance level is low. Tobacco use also adversely impacts night vision, impairs post-operative wound healing and leads to impotence.

At current tobacco use rates and without cessation, more than 30,000 Airmen on active duty today will ultimately die prematurely of a tobacco-related medical complication, Oh said.

Service members and other TRICARE beneficiaries who use tobacco are encouraged to review resources at DOD's tobacco cessation website, www.ucanquit2.org, which is specifically oriented to DOD service members and veterans, and discuss how to quit with their health care provider and installation Health Promotion team.

"Tobacco free living isn't just a virtue," Oh said. "It's a really critical part of our mission and gets at the sustainability of our DOD enterprise. DOD officials spend $53 billion per year in health care costs, and these costs are increasing faster than inflation. Tobacco use is the leading source of preventable health care costs. If we can decrease tobacco use in the Air Force, we can save thousands of lives, help bend the health care cost curve and better ensure we are prepared to fly, fight and win."

Comments

1/4/2013 3:32:02 PM ET
Ahhhh yes... Another reason they need to pay re-enlistment bonuses... What a joke risk your life for freedom but can't enjoy any of them yourself.P.S. Put down that Men's Health Magazine you might be offending some whiny no-life who passes thru your work area.

SSGT JB, Michigan ANG

1/4/2013 3:26:18 PM ET
I smoked nearly all the non-smokers in run time and overall PT score last assesment. Just sayin...

SSGT JB, Michigan ANG

1/3/2013 9:33:16 AM ET
Soon there will be kiosks right outside of every base where airman will be free to smoke and read Gun and Fitness magazines on their lunch breaks.

REB, MT

12/28/2012 2:27:54 PM ET
Combat is bad for you health too. Let's ban that. Excessive running causes premature joint failure. We should limit running to no more than 4 miles a week. Military members having children causes an increased financial burden on taxpayers. Nanny police state is getting out of control. You can support and defend the constitution but you must sacrifice rights to do it. Great.

Wilbur, Earth

12/28/2012 10:24:15 AM ET
Maj W really As a retired officer and the son of a retired officer I take offense. Neither my father myself nor you were ever promised free healthcare. Assuming you are on a path to retirement I strongly recommend you start showing some respect to retirees lest you find yourself a bitter one.

RL, Left Coast

12/28/2012 6:12:36 AM ET
You're government equipment. Obviously Uncle Sam doesn't want self-inficted damage to government property. Quit your whining.

Crude but True, America

12/27/2012 6:49:14 PM ET
Lol has a point - we need to implement brown ropes in order to track and reduce smoking.

Lol Supporter, OCONUS

12/27/2012 11:34:59 AM ET
The AF wants people to be healthier and live longer. If that awful idea saves health care money then who cares It is a good idea. Ban alcohol too while you are at it. It causes nothing but problems. How many great decisions come from getting belligerent

Horace, United States

12/27/2012 10:16:09 AM ET
Tobacco use was a taught habbit as well as alcohol. I had my first cigeret at 13 and my first drink after enlistment at age 18. Today I do not smoke and only have one or less drinks per month. I eat too much and dont exercise enough is that bad as well. We learn from other and our parents but people born since 1980s have learned the badness of smoking and have choosen to smoke any way thier choice which is one of our many freedoms that we military stand for freedom of choice. However the base sales should not contribute to a obvious unhealthy addiction so stop the sales of cheaper tobacco products and alcohol if the leadership wants change.

SNCO Ret 89, SW Ohio

12/26/2012 1:47:47 PM ET
We are witnessing the sissification of our society. Young people i.e. the ones you want to be warfighters drink smoke hunt fish ride 4 wheelers and motorcycles sky dive drive fast and do all kinds of crazy stuff. I know smoking is bad I don't like it either but so are other things It's a dangerous slope when you start telling people what they can and can't do. Alcohol will be next and where do you go from there Sooner or later the services will have a hell of a time getting anyone to enlist.Christopher Judd MSGT RET

Christopher Judd, Michigan

12/26/2012 11:46:10 AM ET
Okindividuals do have a right to smoke but do we all have to suffer the smell effects of second hand smoke because you choose to do it I think if you smoke go do it in your own vehicle or off base just like during techinical training. I shouldn't have to walk thru smoke to get into any building period. Ban smoking on all installations and the sale of cigarettes as well.

Dane, Colorado

12/26/2012 10:54:48 AM ET
Maj W. Stop whining. Stop blaming retirees for rising healthcare costs. Blame instead the rising cost of medical education. The rising cost of medical research. Blame the lawyers advocating trivial lawsuits against the medical industry. If anyone has a complaint it is the retiree. They at least were PROMISED free medical care for life. Their culture grew up with the lies there was no harm in smoking. Lies propagated by Congress and the tobacco industry who looked at the dollar instead of long-term impacts. Blame the tobacco industry who hoodwinked several generations into using a carcinogenic so they could line their pockets.

Ret MSgt, scott

12/26/2012 10:32:41 AM ET
Interesting to see so many comments about tobacco use being a liberty or right. I'd like to think I also have the right to not have to contribute to the billions of dollars worth of healthcare that tobacco users bleed out of our economy. I'm assuming none of the people commenting or advocating tobacco use personally know anyone in healthcare. They would tell you how overwhelmed our healthcare system is with people dying from tobacco use.

James, ACC

12/25/2012 11:57:20 PM ET
All I see r people turning socialist on these comments. It is legal to smoke in the USA and stopping the sale and use on base turns us further into a socialist communist country. Drinking kills people alot faster and easier than smoking and all you that think it should be banned from base should also be saying alcohol should be banned as well. It is our right to smoke if we chose. I am close to quitting myself but to ban it on base is doing nothing but taking away another freedom.

Jeremy C, W. Melbourne Florida

12/24/2012 11:36:36 PM ET
Another prime example of the brass refusing to address the root cause of the issue. How are the teal ropes at Keesler working out Sexual assaults down because of them

Lol, NorCal

12/24/2012 2:33:40 AM ET
All the hipocrites are coming out on this. Is it really about costs..or peronal beliefs. If it is about cost eliminate motorcycles to reduce deaths cut out snack foodssoda to reduce obesity. How about gays to reduce AIDS. Look in the mirror people.

Dick, Germany

12/23/2012 8:42:52 AM ET
Just curious In paragraph two there's a reference to ... Air Force Services What exactly does that mean What are those Services From a former smoker of up to three packs a day until 1977.

Don, Oxnard CA

12/22/2012 1:49:32 PM ET
Stop selling it on base. We don't need to contribute any more to already out of control healthcare costs. Especially for retirees. No one ever made them a promise of tax free cigarettes for life and it is their expensive healthcare that puts the retirement healthcare promised to me in doubt.

Maj W, Edwards AFB

12/21/2012 11:06:40 AM ET
Smokers should have their health coverage cancelled for smoking-related medical conditions. I know it will never happen but it is a self-inflicted condition and should be treated as any other intentional action that causes mission limitation.

Realistic, Remote

12/21/2012 1:36:55 AM ET
If we want a Tobacco Free Air Force then require an Oath of Abstinence from Tobacco for new recruits. We don't hire overweight lets put a requirement that you do not use tobacco either. Start using it while on active duty you get paperwork for violation. Currently serving folks who use tobacco will leave by attrition but no one new users will enter.

MSgt Deployed, Sandyland

12/21/2012 1:33:50 AM ET
How about we stop selling alcohol on base instead This will not only stop on base Alcohol Related Incidents but also keep someone from social smoking while drinking... Doesn't matter what crazy ideas we come up with 2 things are for sure. 1. If people want to do it they will. 2. AAFES will never allow it. We all know they run the DoD much like the Bilderberg Group runs the coming NWO.

Joe, Bagram

12/20/2012 11:36:25 PM ET
If we are serious about this get the tobacco out of the Class VI Shoppete Commissary and Bx. Retirees can pay the extra cost for tobacco off base. Our Service will find a way to survive with a smaller MWR contribution to the base from The Exchange due to no tobacco sales.

DES, CONUS

12/20/2012 10:03:22 PM ET
People shouldn't be allowed to smoke in housing either. Not being able to open windows or go outside with children when people are smoking is disgusting and exposes them to second hand smoke.

Dane, Colorado

12/20/2012 7:54:27 PM ET
Tobacco will never go away on AF installations. Too much money involved.

Brian, FL

12/20/2012 2:57:00 PM ET
Air Force Instruction 40-102 is clear that no smoking is allowed on GOV. but what about POVs some clarification would be nice. also Merry Christmas

John Smith, My TARDIS

12/20/2012 2:09:58 PM ET
Stop selling tobacco product on base and make the base a no smoking site.

Bruce A. Baxter, San Antonio TX

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