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The importance of smoking as a public health issue
Reasons Against Smoking Ban
Arguments against banning smoking
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The number of people who smoke has drastically increased over the years. A cigarette is very toxic. Cigarettes are made of arsenic, lead, tar, and those are just few of more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke. The age of individuals of who are smoking gets younger and younger as the years go by. Smoking is one of the leading killers in North America and innocent people shouldn 't die because of it. Cigarette smoking should be banned in public places because of the health risks it poses to people who are exposed to secondhand smoke. Although people know t how unhealthy smoking can be, people still choose to smoke. It is a personal choice and a highly addictive habit. Smokers choose to subject themselves to the health risks of smoking, and
There are many opposing viewpoints on banning smoking in public places. There are a lot of yes’s to ban it and a lot of no’s. Many people, mostly non-smokers argue that banning smoking in public places will keep non-smokers healthy, including the waiters/waitresses and bartenders. Others argue that by banning smoking in public places, the government is imposing on their freedom. A counter argument to that is that by smoking in public places, smokers are putting the lives of those around them at risk. There are many different opposing arguments to banning smoking, and the debate will probably never end.
People that are against banning smoking public areas are against for many reasons, just like all of us for it are. People think that banning smoking isn’t an option, because they are allowed to move freely and do what they want to do with their body and health. A public place is called a public place for a reason, for people to roam freely. People should have a right to breathe clean air and people should also have a right to their lifestyle choices. People say they have the right to make any choice they want to
Before D.A.R.E., I was not mindful of the extensive damage cigarettes and other tobacco products cause. Cigarette smoke contains over 200 harmful chemicals, including rat poison. Because of nicotine, cigarettes are highly addictive. As a result, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. It causes over 400,000 deaths annually.
The ban has benefited the non-smoking customers of the Boston area, but many heated debates have ensued over the rights of smokers and of the bar owners of the city.
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
Smoking is a lifestyle, a habit, and a trend. Smoking has become a social activity among teens, connecting them through the craving of a smoke. Smoking is seen as seductive and cool in the media and movies which influences teenagers to smoke even more. The World Health Organization has stated that “Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.” As of April 2016, only 7% of teenagers in the U.S. smoke, but it is said that tobacco use will kill 8 million people annually by 2030. 99% of adult smokers start in their years as teenagers. Smoking is an epidemic that has taken control of people’s lives since 1881 and the media since the early 1900s. Smoking currently kills about 440,000 people a year in the U.S. I feel that it is an issue because it is the #1 most preventable way to die, but people still continue to smoke because of how it looks and how they are perceived as a person if they do. The fact that people become addicted to a trend that will attribute to their death for the sake of being thought of as cooler, is a problem that needs to be addressed.
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.
Some actions should be taken on tobacco products because the risk of getting cancer is high. People vape everywhere in today’s society, blowing a massive amount of smoke that lingers in the air and could cause people nearby to cough or even children near it to cough. There needs to be a policy to ban cigarettes, it kills the smoker, in addition, it could kill the person exposed to the smoke from cigarettes. “The cigarette is also a defective product, meaning not just dangerous but unreasonably dangerous, killing half its long-term users” (Proctor). Cigarettes are not healthy in any way making it a defective product, it mainly kills the smoker rather than helping them.
Smoking has become a big epidemic in the United States. As a tobacco free person, I want to be able to breathe clean air anywhere I go. As we know, smoking can harm every organ in the body (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). I believe that smoking should be banned in public places such as drinking establishments, hospitals, buses, train stations, and restaurants. Not only does smoking affect the individual smoker, it also causes a number of health problems, increases death rate, and it affects not only the lives, but the health of other people around them. On the contrary, smoking should be banned in public areas for these reasons.
... “Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It causes serious illness among an estimated 8.6 million persons, it costs $167 billion in annual health-related losses, and it kills approximately 438 000 people each year. (n1, n2) Worldwide, smoking kills nearly 5 million people annually. If current trends continue, this number will double by 2030, and smoking will kill more than 1 billion people during this century” (Frieden and DE). Therefore, banning smoking in public places can reduce at least some of these problems and would enable people to live in a healthier way.
Cigarette smoking is very harmful for both smoker, non- smokers and the environment. People who smoke in just show how inconsiderate they are towards others. Even the people who do not smoke in public places are selfish. They do not consider the affect smoking might have on them and how that will affect their family and the environment. Cigarettes cause hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths each year and that is why cigarettes need to be made illegal.
Today, through out the country, and even right here in Ames, Iowa, there is an enormous problem of cigarette smoke putting people?s lives in danger. By passing a ban to make smoking illegal in public places, the lives of people who have been made to suffer from second-hand smoke will be improved, and people who currently smoke will be discouraged from continuing to do so. This will help to improve the lives of all Ames citizens.
This year alone cigarettes will kill over 420,000 Americans, and many more will suffer from cancers, and circulatory and respiratory system diseases. These horrible illnesses were known to come from cigarettes for years. Recently the Food and Drug Administration declared nicotine, the main chemical in cigarettes, addictive. This explains why smokers continue to use cigarettes even though smokers are aware of the constantly warned about health dangers in cigarettes. Some researchers have also found out that smoking by pregnant women causes the deaths of over 5,000 babies and 115,000 miscarriages. The only way to get rid of the suffering and loss of life by cigarettes is to ban them. . For years cigarettes have been known to cause cancer, emphysema, and other horrible illnesses. The deaths of over 420,000 of Americans this year will be do to cigarettes. With all the other causes of deaths, alcohol, illegal drugs, AIDS, suicide, transportation accidents, fires, and guns, cigarettes still count for more deaths than those do combined. We can’t stand and watch people die because they smoke cigarettes. Thousands of smokers try to rid themselves of cigarettes but can't because of additive nicotine. Nicotine was recently declared addictive by the Food and Drug Administration, which explains why many smokers continue to smoke despite the health warnings on cigarette smoking. Nicotine makes it almost impossible for cigarette smokers to quit smoking because of its addictive nature, and with the cigarette manufacturers putting just enough nicotine in the so they cant be outlawed. The benefits of outlawing cigarettes greatly outnumber the disadvantages, for example, many scientists believe a link between smoking and a shortened life span exists between the two, a ban on cigarettes could increase life spans. Many studies suggest that billions of dollars now spent on smoking related. Smoking related illnesses could be reduced by outlawing cigarettes, families could save money by not purchasing cigarettes, and accidental fires costing millions of dollars caused by cigarettes would stop. Although a complete ban on cigarettes currently remains almost impossible, several organizations recently helped create a bill that could control cigarettes much in the same way the government now controls drugs. One such organization, the Food and Drug Administration, headed by David Kesslar drafted a major part, which would require manufacturers to disclose the 700 chemical additives in cigarettes, reduce the level of harmful chemicals, require cigarette companies to warn of the addictive nicotine, restrict tobacco advertising and promotion, and control the level of nicotine cigarettes contain.
Many restaurant and bar owners think that the ban will decrease business, but a counter-argument to this is that only twenty percent of the city's population are smokers, and when the smoking ban is in place, the other eighty percent will go out to bars and restaurants, dramatically increasing business. There are many different opposing arguments to banning smoking, and the debate will probably never end. Smoking should be banned in public places because, although some may argue that it infringes on their freedom, smoking is replete with harmful substances. People should be able to frequent bars and restaurants without the fear of experiencing an asthma attack or developing lung disease. Everyone deserves the freedom to live and breathe without restriction.
Although it is beneficial for the economy for the production of tobacco products, it is extremely risky to use the product. According to researchers, second-hand smoke is terrible for everyone in the world who walks by someone who is exhaling. In the article by Robert Proctor “Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition” states that cigarettes are the “most deadly object in the history of human civilization”.... ...
Smoking is a simple process of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning tobacco, but it has deadly consequences. According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in America today (Encarta, 2002). Until the 1940?s, smoking was considered harmless. It was at this time that epidemiologists noticed a dramatic increase in the cases of lung cancer. A study was then conducted between smokers and nonsmokers to determine if cigarettes were the cause of this increase. This study, conducted by the American Cancer Society, found increased mortality among smokers. Yet it was not until 1964 that the Surgeon General put out a report acknowledging the danger of cigarettes. The first action to curb smoking was the mandate of a warning on cigarette packages by the Federal Trade Commission (Encarta, 2002). In 1971, all cigarette advertising was banned from radio and television, and cities and states passed laws requiring nonsmoking sections in public places and workplaces (Encarta, 2002). Now in some cities smoking is being completely banned from public places and workplaces and various people are striving for more of these laws against smoking.
Those opposing a smoking ban say that freedom of choice would be affected by such legislation. Some people against a ban say that smoking bans damage business. A smoking ban could lead to a significant fall in earnings from bars, restaurants and casinos. Another argument is that the smoker has a basic human right to smoke in public places, and the ban is a limitation for smokers’ rights. Businesses, smokers, publicans, tobacco industries, stars, and some of the non-smokers oppose public smoking ban. Smokers light a cigarette because they need to smoke, not because they want it, because nicotine is physically addictive. Therefore, some smokers think that the public smoking ban is oppressiveness. They see the ban as a treatment to smokers as second-class citizens. Smokers agree that the smoking ban benefits the world, but cannot support the ban, because effects of nicotine obstruct them.