Cigarettes (and its tobacco-related counterparts) have remained to this day, the most readily available and highly addictive substance that’s in legal America and “continues to be the leading cause of preventable death around the world” (Wascher). The production and sale of cigarettes should be made illegal in America because it manipulates people into adopting unhealthy lifestyles, encourages children to try smoking, and it subsequently shortens the lifespan of the smoker and those who surround them (second-hand smokers), by increasing the risk of adverse health effects.
Cigarette smoking has become a part of the daily life of many Americans. At every given second, someone somewhere is smoking a cigarette. Beginning in the early 20th century, institutions have been investigating the negative, and in some cases fatal, effects smoking tobacco products has on the body. Banning cigarette commercials from television and mandating warning labels on all sold tobacco products have not been enough to keep hundreds of thousands of people dying each year from the long term effects of tobacco. This country has taken a focus to begin to legalize marijuana; however, the focus should change to this negative element of our economy. Cigarettes should be illegal in the United States for its extensive damage to the body and it’s near guaranteed cause of death.
What are in cigarettes in today’s society? According to the American lung association, “There are roughly 600 ingredients in cigarettes today,” and most of them are not listed on each cigarette box. When a person lights up a cigarette, it create about 7,000 different chemicals. Many of these chemicals are poisonous to our health and 70 of those chemicals are cancer causing. Several of these chemicals are found in consumer products that have warning labels on them saying to contact a doctor if ingested. To name a few of these chemicals, tar used for paving roads, arsenic used in rat poison, cadmium used in an active ingredient in batteries, carbon monoxide, methanol used in
. Smoking is the leading cause of death by cancer. 1 out of every 5 deaths occurring in America is due to its cancerous effects. The Center for Disease Control estimates that over 46 million Americans smoke cigarettes daily. The International Agency for Research on Cancer is a world health organization that identifies causes of cancer. Through the use of patterns and lab results they can classify certain elements as carcinogens. A carcinogen can be defined as any substance or toxin that is known to produce cancer. There are more than 6000 of these cancer producing toxins found within cigarettes. Arsenic, Benzene, and Vinyl chloride are just a few of the most harmful carcinogens used by tobacco companies. Vinyl chloride is a basic component in manufacturing plastic. Excessive exposure to vinyl chloride has been proven to be pre-cancerous ultimately manifesting into full blown malignant cancer. The most notable effect of vinyl chloride is the cause of...
“Americans spend $80 billion on cigarettes per year.”, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If we were to ban smoking in public, then people would not have as much time to smoke because most people’s daily live is too busy. This would reduce how many cigarettes they smoke each day, which will then lower the cost smokers spend each year on cigarettes. If people would stop spending money on cigarettes, then they could save that money and put it towards something positive, like a vacation, paying off a debt, or just treating yourself to a nice dinner once a week. Cigarettes do nothing but harm people and do not deserve Americans money that they worked hard
Cigarettes should be made illegal, as they damage the human body and have adverse effects on one’s quality of life. When it comes to cigarette smoking there are many different views on how it can affect a person. Cigarettes may not seem big, but for every single cigarette a person smokes eleven minutes is taken from their lives (Shaw 53). Another fact about cigarettes are that they are the number one killers of people. Although, not all smokers die from cancer or other illnesses inflicted by smoking for years. Concededly there are many people who die from secondhand smoke, in their households caused by another. Cigarettes are considered one of the most lethal habits plaguing the human population today. As of 2014, the CDC reports 480,000 people died in America due to cigarette smoke. Whereas an astonishing 41,000 of those deaths were from secondhand smoke exposure (Center of Disease Control). Regularly smoking tobacco leads to
Tobacco smoking is linked to at least 17 different types of cancer such as lung cancer and oral cancer, and it leads to more than six million deaths per year. The smoke itself is made up of a large mixture of chemicals, at least 60 being carcinogens, substances that can lead to cancer. The way in which these substances cause cancer is by damaging the DNA which can lead to mutations in the cancer gene. The carcinogen
One of the biggest and well known diseases is lung cancer, 90% of people with lung cancer smoke cigarettes and almost half of those people have passed away. Smoking can also cause heart disease which is a very dangerous and is not curable. This causes less oxygen and less blood flow to the heart this is the number one cause of death in the United States. You can also get strokes from smoking, a stroke happens when the brain is getting blocked of blood and your brain cells start to die. A stroke can cause paralysis, slurred speech, altered brain function and death. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of adult disability. Lastly smoking can cause asthma which is a disease which makes it harder for air to get in and out of your lungs. The cigarette smokes disrupt the flow of oxygen in your lungs and causes asthma attacks, 25 million Americans suffer from asthma and smoking only makes it
In the world that surrounds the human race every day, debates about cigarettes are ongoing. Many think that cigarettes should be banned and made illegal just as heroin was. On the contrary, giving up old habits such as smoking can be hard to accomplish and is fought otherwise. The truth is that with every drug there’s a cost that must be paid, although cigarettes are more settled, the life threatening effects cause cancer, heart disease and death.
Cigarettes are a type of tobacco product which contain several hundred ingredients. Although the majority of these ingredients have not been proved to be harmful, the cigarette smoke which results from these ingredients burning have over four hundred toxins, about forty of which are carcinogenic. Three of the best known ingredients that cause negative side effects are nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide. Nicotine is an addictive substance, which is lethal in large quantities. Tar causes a sticky buildup to form on the lungs, which reduce the elasticity that is necessary for the alveoli in the lungs to be able to be an effective respiratory surface. Carbon monoxide competes with oxygen to bind on hemoglobin in red blood cells, which makes it difficult for cellular respiration to occur. These are onl...
Smoking tobacco has long been an accepted form of recreational drug use despite a history of flip-flops of public opinion. The negative effects of smoking were not thought of or even known until the early 1900’s. (“Introduction to Smoking”) Over the last few decades there has been an ever increasing surge in the United States and all over the world to ban smoking in public places. The goals of these smoking bans are to prevent the numerous diseases and health complications that are produced from exposure to the toxic smoke and to improve the overall health of society. Some disagree with these motives by claiming that smoking bans have not actually saved any lives or prevented people from taking up the habit. Contrarily, global research now actually shows that smoking tobacco kills people both directly and indirectly; indirectly, of course, referring to second-hand smoke. Another argument against these smoking bans is that a number of people feel as though they infringe upon their individual rights. These people believe they have a right to smoke tobacco anywhere they choose; not unlike many people who also believe they have a right to avoid forced exposure to deadly second-hand smoke. One might wonder which of the two takes precedence. Another very important thing to consider is while these smoking bans may appear to have a good intent they present to society a difficult scenario if imposed and maintained; they threaten to set a precedent for the restriction of other freedoms that humanity may take for granted. Smoking bans may be justifiable but, like many other prominent moral dilemmas, it may take centuries if not millennia to satisfactorily answer the questions brought forth by the issue.
Through public education, most elementary school kids can understand that smoking is bad for them and that cigarettes are additive. Cigarettes are addictive due to nicotine, a drug found in tobacco (“Quitting Smoking”, 2015). According to Schneider (2016), some of the greatest health problems associated with smoking include: lung cancer, other cancers, coronary heart disease, other heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, other vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prenatal conditions, and sudden infant death syndrome. As stated by the Authority of the American Lung Association in an article titled “Health
As of 2002, more than 430,000 people every year die from use of tobacco- more than AIDS, alcohol, drugs, abuse, car accidents, murders, suicides, and fires COMBINED (“Cigarette Smoking” 2). Scary, isn't it? That even though cigarettes can cause that many deaths, people still smoke them? Cigarette smoking is a serious problem in the United States. Especially when it is done in public. Public smoking should be banned because it is a hazard to the people around.
Daily people die with diseases caused by tobacco. Now a day in the United States tobacco uses become a main cause of death, diseases, and disability. However, some people affirm that use of tobacco give negative effects and that killed people in early age. The government should make uses of tobacco illegal to save people from the great variety of health problems that can cause by tobacco such as heart disease, cancer, and premature
There are over 7,000 chemicals present in tobacco smoke. Of those over 250 are deemed harmful, and of those 69 are cancer causing. Those cancer causing substances are called carcinogens (Nugel). It is clear that cancer and smoking can be linked. Smoking causes cancer of the lung esophagus, larynx, mouth,...