Halibut Hangar

Originally Published July 28, 2009; Last Updated May 13, 2010; Last Republished May 13, 2010:

Our National Academy of Sciences Committee on Smoking Cessation in Military and Veteran Populations; Institute of Medicine is out with a new publication on Combating Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations 2009. "Recommendation: Tobacco use should be banned on military installations, and in all military aircraft, all surface vehicles, and all ships and submarines."1

Cigarette smoking on a submarine is no trivial matter due to a submarine’s closed environment; recirculation of “scrubbed atmosphere”; smoke aerosol; 3,800 chemicals found in cigarettes²; and harm to our submariners’ health³.

A submarine’s central atmosphere monitoring system (CAMS) continuously samples⁴ the submarine’s atmosphere using infrared spectrometer to measure carbon monoxide and a mass spectrometer to measure oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, water vapor, and freon⁵.

Of course cigarette smoking is not the only source of potentially harmful chemicals on a submarine—other sources include cooking; human body; equipment; power train; weapons systems; batteries; sanitary tanks; air-conditioning; refrigeration systems; and a variety of maintenance and repair activities.

... you have to cook the Cajun blackened red fish slightly different than you would at home—lest you create an atmospheric emergency instead of an epicurean delight!

Res⁶:

• UPDATED 05/13/2010 CDC, Adult Tobacco Survey (ATS). Report includes data collected during February 2003--November 2007.

• UPDATED 04/15/2010 When announcing the recent ban on smoking below deck on all navy submarines ComSubFor referenced a 2009 Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) nine submarine secondhand smoke study.

  However neither NSMRL nor ComSubFor appear to have released the study? Presumably the study was conducted by Gertner et al.?

• UPDATED 04/09/2010 CDC, Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007
• UPDATED 01/27/2010 NAP, Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects: Making Sense of the Evidence (2010)
• UPDATED 01/27/2010 The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General
• NAP, Emergency and Continuous Emergency and Continuous Exposure Limits for Selected Airborne Contaminants, Vol 1
• NAP, Emergency and Continuous Exposure Guidance Levels for Selected Submarine Contaminants, Vol 2

Web:

• UPDATED 04/08/2010 NavyMil, Smoking To Be Extinguished On Submarines.

  Commander, Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR) has announced a total ban on smoking inside all U.S. Navy submarines, effective not later than December 31, 2010.

• UPDATED 03/29/2010 NavyTimes, CNO: Smoking ban for subs in the works.

  The Navy Times article is unclear on how the ban will be implemented, but will likely include significant resources and assistance to help our submariners kick this very addictive and harmful habit.

  Repeated unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking usually precede successful smoking cessation over an extended period.

  Perhaps a little intra-inter-submarine competition, rewards, and recognition will help our submariners adopt and maintain a tobacco free (not just cigarette smoking) lifestyle?

• UPDATED 02/05/2010 UPI, Individual risk helps smokers quit.

  Research indicates that giving our submariners that smoke cigarettes specific data from their medical tests indicating impairment to their health will help them quit (e.g. data from their lung capacity tests).

-----notes------

1. This is not the first time an Academy committee has recommended a ban on submarine smoking—clearly the trend is toward encouraging cessation and an eventual ban.

Currently submarine smoking is permitted in accordance with SECNAV Instruction 5100.13E(5) Submarines, July 31, 2008:

"Tobacco-use areas may be designated aboard submarines following the guidance of reference (e) [NAVSEA S9510-AB-ATM-010, Nuclear Powered Submarine Atmosphere Control Manual; Volume 1(U), Rev 2]. These spaces must be well ventilated and not in the vicinity of stationary watch stations. Berthing spaces, messes, lounges, and exercise areas shall not be designated as tobacco use areas. The number of smoking tobacco users authorized to use a designated tobacco use area at one time shall be limited by the clearance capacity of the ventilation system."

Jackman et al. (2004) found that exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke on submarines was minimal during a 10-day deployment (Jackman et al., 2004). Seufert and Kiser (1996), however, found that after 62 hours in a nonventilated submerged submarine the end-expiratory carbon monoxide (EECO)levels of nonsmoking crew members were equal to the initial EECO levels of crew members who smoked suggesting that nonsmokers were exposed to elevated levels of carbon monoxide.

2. Including CO and CO₂—each smoked cigarette produces 0.026-0.07 grams of CO (carbon monoxide).

3. The percentage of submariners smoking cigarettes has declined over the last twenty-five years from ranges of 30%-40% to 20%-30%.

A recent survey across a number of submarine crews and patrols found the average self-reporting smoking rate to be 11%. (see Terry L. Thomas et al., "Health of U.S. Navy Submarine Crew During Periods of Isolation". Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 74, No. 3, March 2003)

UPDATED 07/28/2009 Commissioned smokers 2.2% (N=1,389); Non-Commissioned smokers 14.4% (N=11,952); Smoking status Unknown 2.6% (N=36) and 2.9% (N=344), respectively. These low percentages are very encouraging: they are overall much lower than the general smoking population; low among non-commissioned submariners; and very low among commissioned submariners (encouraging directly and indirectly cessation of smoking).

There are some data to suggest that smoking and radiation exposure are augmentative with respect to lung cancer—of course it is well known that each independently cause lung cancer, too.

4. The CAMS samples air from different locations in addition to monitoring the main fan room containing the huge blower. The blower can be configured to intake, exhaust, or recirculate air atmosphere. (as an aside it can also be used to blow air into the ballast tanks!)

5. Other chemicals, substances, and compounds may be monitored using simple techniques such as calibrated color-metric tubes.

6. Post is substantially based on information from these publications—a wealth of information on the topic of submarine atmosphere.