Youth Smoking and Prevention
Introduction: Ascertaining the Issue and Addressing the Problem
As we progress into a more sophisticated and knowledgeable future, it is no wonder that our prosperity and health are first on our list of priorities. By simply looking at the longevity people have in today's world, one can see something that was unfathomable less than one hundred years ago. In this proposal, an issue is addressed that deals on many levels. It is an issue that touches everyone, whether one is directly involved or not. It is an issue that lives in every community around the world and affects more people than most realize. So as we advance into an increasingly foreseeable future, where our standard of success rises higher and higher toward perfection, it is ironic how we allow such an issue slip past our view and remain forever in our periphery.
It is this, the issue of smoking, which has stood the test of time and has raised all of these concerns. The importance of addressing this blemish on society's face is something that can no longer be ignored. The purpose of this proposal is to effectively state a solution to the problems of youth smoking and illegal sale of tobacco, issues that have been pushed aside in the minds of so many for too long.
Background Information: Linking the Past With the Present
Prologue
Cigarette smoking is ubiquitous. It seems today that everywhere we turn we see media channeling or promoting their attention on smoking. How this effects society in America and others around the world is substantial. Over recent years, prominence of smoking has been seen to be on the upswing and this in effect not only influences adult smokers, but youths as well. However, the issue of youth smok...
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The smoking issue is very complicated and some of the arguments are beyond the scope of this essay. Still, we can obtain a balanced outlook if we consider the following: the facts of smoking, individual right, societal responsibility, and the stigma of smoking. Haviland and King write essays which contain very important points, but seem to contain a bias which may alienate some people. To truly reach a consensus on the smoking issue, we must be willing to meet each other halfway. We must strike equilibrium between individual right and societal responsibility.
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The way the assembly line moves are from workstation to workstation, where the parts are added in the sequence until the final assembly is produced. A finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than by have workers carried parts to a stationary piece assembly. Many workers hated their job because it was hard, they had to work for 12 hours. The percent of people who quit their job working on the assembly line because it was too much for them was 370%. Henry Ford didn’t want his workers to quit so what he did was satisfy his workers and give them less hours and higher payment. Ford was the first man to pay his workers $5 a day. Ford has also reduced a day's work to 8 hours. The thing Ford did was called Welfare Capitalism, which means taking care of employees to keep them happy and loyal
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Tobacco companies have relied on the media to lure children. They quickly realized that ‘the company that dominates is that which most effectively targets young”(Imperial Tobacco document.) To counteract the idea of disease and other negative aspects of tobacco, the industry used imagery in the media such as natural settings and healthy actors doing active things. This helps them to insinuate that smoking leads to success, romance, sophistication and other advancements in their lifestyle, which was easily imprinted in the minds of children. A document found among Imperial tobacco files described their priority: “…having our imagery reach those non-reading young people who frequent malls should be our chief goal.”(1.170) Unaware of how important the under 18 market was to the industry, the government could only attempt to lengthen the distance between schools and billboards because they’re ineffective attempts were ignored by the large corporations. With many billboards concentrated in small areas it put the idea in children’s minds that smoking was socially acceptable and that t...
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Every year cigarette smoking is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths (Nugel), you do not want to be just another statistic, do you? America’s first cash crop was tobacco. That means that tobacco has been around for a really long time. It was not until 1865, though, that cigarettes were sold commercially. They were sold to soldiers at the end of the Civil War (Dowshen). From then, cigarettes spread like wildfire, and it was not until 1964 that anyone made a stand about the negative effects of tobacco and cigarettes. People start smoking for all different reasons, some to fit in and some to “escape”. Regardless, it is a horrible habit. 3900 children will try their first cigarette today. Amongst adults who currently smoke, 68% of them began at age 18 or younger, and 85% at 21 or younger (American Lung Association). And of all those people, 70% say if they were given another chance they would never have picked up that first cigarette (Tobacco Free Maine). Smoking is responsible for 1 and 5 deaths in the united states, and is the number one preventable cause of death (NLH). Smoking burns and there is no doubt about that, but before one picks up that cigarette, understand the negative effects on not only oneself, but others affected by ones poor choices, like second-hand smoke. Because of smoking cigarettes, many types of cancer, decrease of life quality, and negative health effects have become all too common in the world today.
Insel, Paul M. and Walton T. Roth. Connect Core Concepts in Health. 13th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
Cigarette contains different poisonous ingredients, and nicotine is the one that creates addiction and leads to different diseases. Smoking cigarette is one of the worst problems our world is facing and the main reason for this term to be stressful is its consequence. Cigarette can cause different diseases that can directly or indirectly lead to death; “tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the united states” (cigarette smoking). Most of the time this consequence highly exists on young smokers or victims can be affected by the consequence because they started smoking young. In the United States 18 is the legal age for smoking cigarette and people are still using this law, but it is now the right time for a change because young citizens were affected a lot as a result of early age smoking. Instead of setting the age limit of smoking cigarette 18, we have to raise it to 21 because of the responsibility, Health issue, and since the alcohol drinking and marijuana smoking age Is 21, we have to use the same age limit for smoking cigarette.
As American society has evolved in the past 100 years and technology has increased and improved, so has the life expectancy for individuals. Currently, females can expect to live for 81 years on average, while males can expect to live for 75 years, giving an average life expectancy of 78.3 years (Santrock, 2013, p.536). According to Santrock (2013), “since 1900, improvements in medicine, nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle have increased our life expectancy an average of 30 additional years,” but another important factor is the decreasing infant mortality, allowing a larger population of people, including older adults (p.536). Making good choices in diet, regular exercise, avoiding drugs and alcohol, along with getting enough sleep and maintaining a low and healthy stress level can all increase life expectancy. Relationships, emotional well-being, and having purpose all also play an important role in determining how long an individual will live. As people are living longer, more ...
In recent years, smoking has started to take over the lives of many teenagers. The number of teenagers smoking has increased dramatically in the last several years. This is a major problem because smoking can lead to sickness and major diseases that can lead to death. Teens tend to participate in this while out of the presence of an adult figure. Although teens should not be smoking in the first place, an adult figure should be around to help insure that their children are doing the right things, even when they are behind sealed doors with their peers. Teenagers as they mature become a model for younger children and when they set the example of smoking can ruin their respectable image to the children that look up to them.
Consequently, tobacco which contains many harmful chemicals damages human beings’ health day by day. Although people are aware of the bad effects of smoking, they still smoke for one reason or another. When the current situation is considered, it is clear that smoking which has been spreading all over the world is not only the problem of a country or a territory but the problem of mankind because smoking brings many disadvantages for humans like diseases. I personally believe that it is important to help children remain lifelong non-smokers because they are our hope for a non-smoking future.