Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121226

Carol L. Schmitt, PhD, Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation, 6115 Falls Road, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21209, 410-372-2757, schmittc@battelle.org

Tobacco use has gone hand-in-hand with war during the 20th century. General Pershing's paean to tobacco during WWI, “You ask me what we need to win the war? I answer tobacco as much as bullets" was followed by images of the WWII soldier with his ever-present cigarette and more recently by a Washington Post front-page image of 20-year-old Kentucky Marine, Blake Miller smoking a cigarette while combat raged in Fallujah, Iraq. The US Armed Services have made a strong commitment to tobacco control for the past two decades. Although smoking rates vary between the services, overall they remain higher than those in the civilian population. This panel will provide an overview of tobacco use, prevention, and treatment in the US Armed Forces, including the role that the tobacco industry has played in this relationship

Learning Objectives:

• • Describe the demographics, tobacco use rates, and tobacco control policies of the US Armed Forces and the historic role played by the tobacco industry.
• • Provide insights into how tobacco impacts military personnel and the military mission.
• • Gain insights into how the military’s experience can inform other tobacco control programs.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.