The banning of smoking is one of the most debated topics in human history. On one side there are those acknowledging the health risks and damaging factors of smoking cigarettes and on the other those fighting for their right to smoke and those who say the tax and financial benefits outweigh any limitations that smoking causes. Smoking causes many deadly diseases; the most well-known include cancer and heart disease. However, the tax benefits of smoking are large and hefty, collecting a large amount of money that goes towards the medical budget. Passive smoking is a large issue in Australia and poses large risks to the public. Yet the public should be able to have the right to smoke and have a choice.
Many scientific studies showed that smoking is a significant cause of many diseases including cancer of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, pancreas, bladder, kidney, cervix, and stomach. Each inhalation of cigarette smoke contains mixtures of thousands of compounds including over 60 carcinogens (cancer causing substances). Figure 1 shows the link between cigarette smoking and cancer. Tobacco is the main ingredient in the cigarette and contains many harmful substances such as tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. Tar causes lung cancer and many other types of cancer. The tar coats the surface of the breathing tubes and alveoli in the lungs causing coughing and damage to the alveoli making gas exchange more difficult. Figure 1 shows the dramatic difference of a normal lung and a lung from a smoker.
The cells in the lining of the breathing tubes produce sticky mucus. Cells called cilia move the mucus out of the lungs. Smoke and tar damages these cilia, so smokers are more likely to develop bronchitis. The nicotine in ci...
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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.
This essay is aimed to explore, analyse and discuss smoking in adults. Smoking is a public health issue as such is one of the major contributors to high mortality and ill-health in the adults which is preventable (Health and Excellence Care (NICE) (2012). The United Kingdom (UK) is known to have the highest number of people with a history of smoking among people with low socio-economic status (Scriven and Garman, 2006; Goddard and Green, 2005). Smoking is considered a serious epidemic in the UK and the National institute for Health and Excellence Care (NICE, 2012) stated that 28% of adults with low economic status are tobacco smokers compared with 13% of those with economic status or having professional incomes. Furthermore almost 80,000 people died in England in 2011 as a result of smoking related issues and 9,500 admissions of children died due to being second hand smokers (WHO, 2005). This essay focuses on definition of smoking, the aim is to underline the relationship between smoking and the determinants of health and then, the size, prevalence, and morbidity trend of smoking will be explored. Furthermore, some public health policies introduced to confront the issues around smoking will be investigated and finally, the roles of nurses will identify health needs the public so as to promote good health and their wellbeing.
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.
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.
... “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.
Smoking causes many other types of cancer, including cancers of the throat, mouth, nasal cavity, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix, and even leukemia has been found linked to smoking. Also, people who smoke are up to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than nonsmokers, and the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked. Smoking also causes most cases of chronic obstructive lung disease. Also, approximately 49,400 deaths have been due to exposure to secondhand smoke. 3,000 nonsmoking adults die of diseases caused by exposure to second-hand smoke every year.
As most of you know, smoking is bad for your health, but what some of you might not know is that you don’t actually have to smoke to be harmed by smoking. Lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women, is mainly caused by cigarette smoking. Secondhand smoking causes approximately 2 percent of lung cancer deaths each year. It causes respiratory disease, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), middle ear disease, and asthma attacks in children.
This problem, which plagues all Americans, should have action taken on a local scale to help protect the health of the public. The Ames City Council is in the process of debating a city ordanince which whould ban smoking in all public places, with the exception of those designated as "smokng areas". A public place shall be defined by Subsection 142B.1(3) Code of IowaAmes City Council, Current Odrances, http://www.city.ames.ia.us/Whatsnew/smokingban.htm).
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.
Nicotine is the chemical in tobacco that most impacts the brain and provides near instantaneous feelings of pleasure associated with smoking. People who smoke usually have ruff skin or other things that are wrong with them. Tar will also stain smoker’s fingers, their teeth, and collects in their lungs (Eshrick 32). Lung cancer is the most common cancers that most people have. Studies have proven that one out of every four people die from lung cancer, and ninety percent of cancer is caused by tobacco use (Eshrick 62). Bladder cancer may occur when smokers inhale some of the carcinogens in tobacco smoke are absorbed from the lungs and get into the blood, then filtered by the kidneys and concentrated into the urine. If the victim smokes more than twenty cigarettes a day it can double the risk of the most common type of kidney cancer (Eshrick 55). The last cancer is cervical cancer, the chemicals damage the cervix. There are cells in the lining of the cervix called Langerhans cells that specifically help fight against diseases. These cells do not work well in smokers (Eshrick
can cause cancer ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/smokingthefacts/hp099201.html). Many of the ingredients in cigarettes are not substances that humans usually consume, but smokers (and the non-smokers around them) do. Some of the ingredients contained in cigarettes are a type of rat. poison, a type of paint stripper, a type of toilet cleaner, lighter. fuel, the chemical found in mothballs, poison that was once used in gas chambers and there is even a type of rocket fuel found in cigarettes (http://ash.org/additives.html).
Smoking causes bad health not only to the smoker, but to others too. The exposure of the smoke can be categorized into two kinds: The short-term exposure causes eye irritation and respiratory track irritation. The long-term effects are causing the more lethal problems like lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and increases stroke. All of these diseases come from the 4,000 chemicals found in tobacco in which 60 of them are carcinogens. There is no level of tolerance of the second hand exposure (Cooper, 2004).
The sale of cigarettes and tobacco is a multi-billion dollar industry, but is it truly worth all the problems that stem from their use? Health care costs are extremely high due to all the health problems associated with cigarettes and tobacco. Even though research has proven time and time again the harmful effects of cigarettes, and the rising cost of health care caused by cigarettes, our government will not take a stand and stop all manufacturing of the horrible toxins. Every year, new medical reports are issued regarding the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world die every year from diseases caused by smoking.
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.
Most controversial debate is going on public smoking ban. The reason is simple, smoking ban affects directly all people rapidly and we can see its effects in a short-term period. There have been a lot of arguments brought up both in favour and against a public smoking ban. Some of the arguments in favour are the following. Smoking ban is one of the controversial ways for reducing smoking and recognizing non-smokers’ right to health protection. The health risks of smoking are clear. Passive smoking does carry risks. Many leading medical and scientific organizations recognize second hand smoke as a cause of a range of life-threatening conditions. The health situation could be drastically improved if one of the risk factors - tobacco - was eliminated. People have a right to protect themselves from smoke inhalation. People shouldn’t have to inhale the ill-effects of other people’s smoking. The creation of smoke-free public places also improves air quality.