Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
Am J Public Health. 2013 Apr;103(4):604-12. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301022. Epub 2013 Feb 14.
Military personnel and veterans are disadvantaged by inadequate tobacco control policies. We conducted a case study of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) effort to disallow smoking and tobacco sales in VA facilities. Despite strong VA support, the tobacco industry created a public relations-focused grassroots veterans' opposition group, eventually pushing the US Congress to pass a law requiring smoking areas in every VA health facility. Arguing that it would be unpatriotic to deny veterans this "freedom" they had ostensibly fought for and that banning smoking could even harm veterans' health, industry consultants exploited veterans' organizations to protect tobacco industry profits. Civilian public health advocates should collaborate with veterans to expose the industry's manipulation, reframe the debate, and repeal the law.
军人和退伍军人因烟草控制政策不足而处于不利地位。我们对退伍军人事务部(VA)禁止在 VA 设施内吸烟和销售烟草的努力进行了案例研究。尽管 VA 给予了大力支持,但烟草业还是创建了一个以公共关系为重点的草根退伍军人反对组织,最终促使美国国会通过了一项法律,要求在每个 VA 医疗设施内设置吸烟区。烟草业的顾问们声称,拒绝给予退伍军人他们显然为之奋斗的这种“自由”是不爱国的,而且禁止吸烟甚至可能危害退伍军人的健康,他们利用退伍军人组织来保护烟草业的利润。民用公共卫生倡导者应该与退伍军人合作,揭露该行业的操纵行为,重新构建辩论,并废除该法律。