The U.S. military wanted to raise the price of cigarettes sold in commissaries, but the tobacco industry used its influence with Congress and the military supply system to keep prices low, according to a researcher from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

Ruth Malone, RN, Ph.D., a professor of nursing and health policy at the UCSF School of Nursing's Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, said that the tobacco industry has helped reinforce the notion that smoking is a "right" for members of the military. The industry successfully blocked a price increase in commissaries for more than a decade until a modest increase was implemented in 1996, she said.

Tobacco companies argued that cheap cigarettes were a "benefit" to soldiers that should not be restricted.

A report from the U.S. Inspector General found that tobacco use costs the military eight times more than it earns on tobacco sales, including healthcare costs. Smoking also has a negative effect on military readiness, experts say.

"A new generation of American troops will no doubt become addicted to cigarettes because of shortsighted policies that continue to subsidize low cost tobacco in military stores," said Malone. "It is past time for Congress and the Department of Defense to quit doing the work of the tobacco industry at taxpayer expense."

"A larger question is why, even today, cigarettes are still being sold through military outlets when it has long been clear that tobacco use harms the readiness of troops," added Malone.

The research appears in the February 2007 issue of the journal Tobacco Control.