Time for county to raise smoking age to 21

Today’s ( Sept. 27) “100 years ago in The Record” describes a citywide fundraising effort to supply cigarettes and other tobacco products to American soldiers during WWI. In hindsight, the good intentions of those early 20th century Troy citizens weren’t doing soldiers any favors. In 2014, the Department of Defense ( DoD) estimated that 175,000 current Active Duty Service members would die from smoking unless they were able to quit. That’s nearly three times the number of soldiers who died in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq combined. The tobacco industry has a long history of creating and maintaining a culture of smoking in themilitary. As recently as the early 90’ s, they were sending free cigarettes to troops stationed in Saudi Arabia until the DoD put a stop to it. As a result, smoking rates in the military are persistently higher than among civilians, with 38% of US military smokers starting after enlisting. Military leaders have united and are now promoting actions to reduce the impact of tobacco use on troop readiness and soldiers’ health, including support for raising the minimum age of tobacco sales to 21. Here in New York State, New York City, Albany and Schenectady Counties and an additional 6 counties and 3 localities have already taken this step. As he signed Chautauqua County’s Tobacco- 21 bill, County Executive Vince Horrigan said: “As a retired 27- year senior officer of the Air Force, I join with many other military leaders in the perspective that tobacco products are a threat to our military readiness and too often compromise the health of our professional military who put their lives on the line to defend our freedoms.”

Rensselaer County can protect and support young people’s health and safety, including the brave men and women who selflessly serve our country, by raising the tobacco sales age to 21. The U. S. military has our backs. We should have theirs by adopting Tobacco- 21.

Theresa Zubretsky Troy The author is community engagement coordinator for Capital District Tobacco- Free Communities