The Israeli Medical Association has submitted a plan to help the Israel Defense Forces take on the problem of smoking among soldiers. Among its recommendations are making IDF bases no-smoking zones and stopping the selling of discounted cigarettes at base canteens. The Emergency Plan to Combat Smoking has been submitted to IDF Personnel Directorate head Maj. Gen. Moti Almoz and IDF Chief Medical Officer Brig. Gen. Dr. Dudu Dagan. The plan is scheduled to be presented next week to a meeting of the Knesset Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, which will discuss figures showing that the number of young people who smoke jumps by 40% during their military service, with 39% of men and 32% of women leaving the army as smokers. The medical association expressed concern over the issue of smoking in the IDF. It found that soldiers who smoke take more sick days and use more medical services than nonsmokers. Studies conducted internationally also show that addiction to smoking harms physical and cognitive functioning and soldiers' ability to fulfill their jobs, especially when it comes to carrying out combat operations. The doctors also noted that soldiers who smoke spend a significant portion of their already low military pay on cigarettes, increasing socio-economic gaps. In recent years, the military has neglected the issue of preventing smoking. Programs to help soldiers quit smoking have been launched only as outside initiatives (such as the "text-and-quit" program of the Israel Cancer Association and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem). The army has stopped collecting data about the number of soldiers who smoke, and no-smoking rules on bases have not been enforced. A Medical Corps department devoted to health awareness has also been shut down. The new plan from the IMA includes recommendations to: establish a central entity to combat smoking and put together a work plan; expanding and enforce smoking bans on IDF bases and making all buildings and a 20-meter (66-foot) radius around them smoke-free; and updating the orders of the chief of staff to declare all open spaces on IDF bases smoke-free, apart from designated smoking areas that require special permits and clear signs. The plan also aims to fight smoking is by adding the information that a recruit is a smoker or former smoker to his or her medical profile, which would lower his or her medical score. Officials believe this would send an important message to young people who want to enlist in elite units that require the highest medical scores. On the recommendation to remove the discounts on cigarettes at base canteens, the medical association said: "We must prevent the cynical exploitation of high-pressure situations in a time of war or a military operation by tobacco companies, which are trying to push cigarettes on soldiers to get them addicted, and explicitly prohibit the distribution of cigarettes to soldiers during war." Dr. Hagai Levine, treasurer of the Israel Association of Public Health Physicians, wrote the plan in conjunction with the Israel Association of Family Physicians, the Israel Cancer Association, and the Israel Council for the Prevention of Smoking. "The difficult effects of smoking in the IDF on soldiers' health and their fitness and on the health of the Israeli population demands greater investment and focused efforts, including the preparation of an inclusive emergency plan to combat the epidemic of smoking in the IDF," Levine said. The IDF said its officials had yet to receive the details of the plan.
