Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994 TAG: 9403090191
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
``This policy moves DOD toward a healthier environment for all of its employees,'' said Sherri Wasserman Goodman, the Pentagon's head of environmental security.
At a news conference announcing the change, Goodman said evidence compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Environmental Protection Agency indicates that secondhand smoke ``is a major source of harmful indoor air and a known cause of lung cancer, respiratory illness and heart disease.''
The change, which will go into effect April 8, will help save lives, cut health-care costs, reduce work hours lost to sickness and slash housekeeping and maintenance expenses for the department, Goodman predicted.
``With more than 2.6 million personnel - 3.6 if you include the reserves - we are the largest employer in the world. ... We think it is important for DOD to be a leader on this issue,'' she said.
However, cigarettes and other tobacco products apparently still will be available - sales-tax-free - in military stores. Goodman said it would be up to Congress to ban sales.
Top medical officers for the major services say the smoking ban is a major step. One said recruiting only nonsmokers in the future was possible.
The department's current policy requires that limited workplace areas be designated for smokers. In the Pentagon, for example, some rest rooms are so designated.
Under the new policy, smoking will be prohibited inside Defense Department buildings and other areas deemed to be workplaces.
In the case of military bases, not all areas will be considered workplaces. For example, smoking will be banned in office buildings but allowed in designated areas such as barracks, family housing, prison quarters, clubs, recreational facilities and restaurants on bases.
One exception to the ban will be submarines - each vessel's commander will decide the issue.
The medical officers said the new policy builds on aggressive anti-smoking efforts put in place in recent years in the service branches. One step was to ban smoking 24 hours a day during basic training.
But still, the smoking rate among young enlisted soldiers is 49 percent, said Maj. Gen. Thomas Tempel, the Army's deputy surgeon general. Forty-one percent of senior enlisted personnel smoke, compared with 13 percent of the officers, for an overall rate of 37 percent, the general said.
In the Marine Corps, 39 percent smoke; in the Navy, 37 percent, Buckendorf said.
The Air Force has been able to cut its rate from 42 percent 10 years ago to 29 percent, said Brig. Gen. Pete Hoffman, director of the Air Force Medical Operations Agency.
Goodman said the department has worked hard to recognize the rights of smokers and nonsmokers alike, and that smoking-cessation programs will be made available to all who request them.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.