Final Paper
Smoking in Public Should Be Banned in Public Places
Megumi Musha
AES220 – Advanced Writing
Professor Michael Krauss
December 13, 2006
Abstract
Many people all around the world smoke. It is a popular way to get rid of stress and to relax. However, as people have become more concerned about their health recently, many bad aspects of smoking have been recognized.
It is obvious to everyone’s eyes that smoking is bad for the health. One can never expect a good result from smoking. Not only the smokers, but also the non-smokers can suffer from the smoke, which is called passive smoking. Passive smoking actually sometimes takes away precious life. Also, smoking causes a bad influence on children. It leads them to get interested in cigarettes from an early age.
Smokers might argue that they have the right to smoke whenever and wherever they want to, but since cigarettes harm people’s health, smokers should care about the non-smokers, and must have their rights restricted.
Many people all around the world smoke. In 2006, 1.3 billion people in the world smoke cigarettes nowadays. That means one of every five people is a smoker (Where the Smoke Is, 2006). Smoking is a popular way to get rid of stress and to relax. However, as people have become more concerned about their health recently, many bad aspects of smoking have been recognized. It is obvious to everyone’s eyes that smoking is bad for the health. Society can never expect a good result from smoking. Not only the smokers, but also the non-smokers can suffer from the smoke, through the process called passive smoking. Passive smoking actually sometimes takes away precious life. Also, smoking causes a bad influence on children. It leads them to get interested in cigarettes from an early age. Considering these negative aspects, smoking should be prohibited in public places. As a matter of fact, since the negative aspects of smoking have been very much publicized recently, many countries have already set a smoking ban in public places. These countries include: Republic of Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, and Vietnam, to name a few. As for Bhutan, not only smoking, but also selling tobacco is banned. On top of that, there are many other countries planning to prohibit public smoking in 2007 such as Denmark, France, Belgium and England (List of smoking bans, 2006). Because the United States consists of many states, there is no restriction against smoking on a federal scale, but many of the states have prohibited smoking in public. According to American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, 17 states have laws against public smoking, and 35 states and the District of Columbia have local laws against it (2006). However, this issue is controversial in some states or countries because, of course, smokers are against it.
Smokers argue that “Grown-ups in a free country, as opposed to children in a nursery, ought to be able to make their choices in these areas. Even Adolf Hitler, that strong opponent of tobacco, did not forbid smoking in bars (O’Shea, 1998, pp. 134-136). Of course they do have rights to make their choices, but non-smokers around them also have the right to live free from bothersome smoke. If only the rights of smokers were respected, then very many people would suffer from it. Many people are always annoyed by people smoking when they are walking. It is hard to understand why they have to smoke when they are walking on the road. If people want to smoke, they can go to a smoking area or under ventilating fans. Since cigarettes harm people’s health, smokers should care about the non-smokers, and must have their rights restricted.
When people smoke in public—it might be in the bus or metro station, in the park, in the restaurant, or any public area, like on the street—there are always other people suffering from the smoke they produce. As most people know, passive smoking is very bad for the health. It is as harmful as smoking because secondhand smoke contains many toxic chemicals. By breathing it, it damages blood and blood vessels are damaged just like smokers (Glantz, 2006, 520-521). At first, people feel irritation in the throat and eyes, and suffer from nausea and headache, but passive smoking also starts to harm their lungs or hearts even though they do not smoke, and many people are actually dying from it. It is actually responsible for 50,000 deaths in the U.S. every year; 3,000 of them are dying from lung cancer, 12,000 from other cancers, and 35,000 of them are dying from heart disease. In fact, “’passive smoking’ is the third leading cause of premature death in the United States” (Smoak Jr., 1998, pp.128-133). Moreover, if pregnant women are exposed to second-hand smoke, not only them but also their unborn baby will suffer from it. According to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, passive smoking by pregnant women may cause miscarriage, stillbirth, sudden unfant death syndrome, premature birth and low birth weight of the baby (2004, pp.1). Second-hand smoke also has a power to take away the precious life of the baby who is not yet to be born. It is certainly not fair to see people who are not choosing to smoke themselves dying like this.
Public bans on smoking will have a good influence on smokers too. The result of the smoking ban in Ireland suggests us that the number of smokers will decrease by setting a ban on smoking in public (Wilkinson, 2005). Based on an editorial in The Lancet, citing an estimate made by the Royal College of Physicians, a smoking ban in all workplaces in England would help 300,000 people to quit smoking and it would save 150,000 lives in the UK (How do you sleep, 2003, para.5). It is obvious to everyone, even to smokers themselves, that smoking is bad for the health. It only harms one’s health and does nothing good. For example, it causes lung cancer, emphysema—damage in lung tissue, organic disease and heart attack (Izenberg, 2004, para. 2). All it does is make people sick and make their life shorter. Every single cigarette equals to a 5 to 20 minutes off one’s life (Izenberg, 2004, para.10). Tobacco not only causes diseases, but also death and it is not a rare case. Tobacco is responsible for 4.2 million deaths every year in the world, and it is estimated that the number of the death per year will increase up to 10 million by the late 2020s (How do you sleep, 2003, para.5). If the ban was set all around the world, it would help save thousands of people in the future.
Furthermore, smoking in public could have a negative influence on young people. Actually, as a survey by Campaign for Tobbaco-Free Kids shows, 90% of adult smokers start smoking when they are teenagers, and about two thirds of them become regular smokers before they are 19 years old (Gallogly, 2006). Looking at adults smoking cigarettes stimulates children to get interested in smoking and to get the idea that smoking is cool because it makes them look older. It is estimated that among those people who are under 18 years old, every day 4,000 of them experience their first cigarette, and more than 1,000 of them eventually become addicted to it and 6,000,000 of those young smokers are expected to eventually die from smoking (Lindblom and McMahon, 2006). Many young people start smoking out of curiosity at first, but since cigarettes are addictive, they cannot quit smoking. The longer one smokes, the more one is likely to suffer from diseases such as lung cancer.
Smoking might help people to ease stress and relax, but the smokers should think about others when they smoke. Certainly, if they smoke in public, many people are bothered. They are annoyed by the smoke and feel uncomfortable in the throat and eyes. They can also get sick, or even die from this passive smoking. Also, society has to think about the impact of smoking on children. Adult smoking may not be the only reason for children’s tobacco use, but it surely gives an impression that smoking makes them look older. Of course, the longer one smokes, the more chances one will suffer from diseases or death. Smoking should be prohibited in public areas because if people stop smoking in public, these problems will be solved, or at least the situation will be better.
Reference
American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation (2006). Overview list—how many smokefree laws? Retrieved December 6, 2006, from http://www.no-smoke.org/pdf/mediaordlist.pdf
Gallogly, M. (2006). Smoking and kids. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0104.pdf
Glantz, S. A. (2006). Smoking. In The World Book Encycropedia (520-521), Chicago: World Book.
How do you sleep at night, Mr. Blair? (2003). The Lancet, 362, 1865. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from the EBSCOhost Research Databases (152)
Izenberg, N. (2004). Smoking. Retrieved December 6, 2006 from http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smoking.html
Lindblom, E. & McMahon, K. (2006). Toll of tobacco in the United States of America. Retrieved November 14, 2006 from http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research
List of smoking bans. (2006). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 6, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smiking_bans
O’Shea. M. L. (1998). Smoking should be banned in all public areas. In B, Leone. (Ed.), Tobacco and smoking (pp.134-136), California: Greenhaven Press, Inc.
Smoak Jr, R.D. (1998). Smoking should be banned in all public buildings. In B, Leone. (Ed.), Tobacco and smoking (pp.128-133), California: Greenhaven Press, Inc.
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead (2004). Fact sheet—passive smoking. Retrieved December 13, 2006, from http://www.chw.edu.au/parents/factsheets/pdf/passive_smoking.pdf
Where the smoke is. (2006, September 24). In The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 6, 2006, from
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/09/24/where_the_smoke_is/
Wilkson, E. (2005).Smoking ban in public places helps in quitting. Pulse, 65, 10. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from the EBSCOhost Research Databases (50)
Megumi Musha
AES220 – Advanced Writing
Professor Michael Krauss
December 13, 2006
Abstract
Many people all around the world smoke. It is a popular way to get rid of stress and to relax. However, as people have become more concerned about their health recently, many bad aspects of smoking have been recognized.
It is obvious to everyone’s eyes that smoking is bad for the health. One can never expect a good result from smoking. Not only the smokers, but also the non-smokers can suffer from the smoke, which is called passive smoking. Passive smoking actually sometimes takes away precious life. Also, smoking causes a bad influence on children. It leads them to get interested in cigarettes from an early age.
Smokers might argue that they have the right to smoke whenever and wherever they want to, but since cigarettes harm people’s health, smokers should care about the non-smokers, and must have their rights restricted.
Many people all around the world smoke. In 2006, 1.3 billion people in the world smoke cigarettes nowadays. That means one of every five people is a smoker (Where the Smoke Is, 2006). Smoking is a popular way to get rid of stress and to relax. However, as people have become more concerned about their health recently, many bad aspects of smoking have been recognized. It is obvious to everyone’s eyes that smoking is bad for the health. Society can never expect a good result from smoking. Not only the smokers, but also the non-smokers can suffer from the smoke, through the process called passive smoking. Passive smoking actually sometimes takes away precious life. Also, smoking causes a bad influence on children. It leads them to get interested in cigarettes from an early age. Considering these negative aspects, smoking should be prohibited in public places. As a matter of fact, since the negative aspects of smoking have been very much publicized recently, many countries have already set a smoking ban in public places. These countries include: Republic of Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, and Vietnam, to name a few. As for Bhutan, not only smoking, but also selling tobacco is banned. On top of that, there are many other countries planning to prohibit public smoking in 2007 such as Denmark, France, Belgium and England (List of smoking bans, 2006). Because the United States consists of many states, there is no restriction against smoking on a federal scale, but many of the states have prohibited smoking in public. According to American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, 17 states have laws against public smoking, and 35 states and the District of Columbia have local laws against it (2006). However, this issue is controversial in some states or countries because, of course, smokers are against it.
Smokers argue that “Grown-ups in a free country, as opposed to children in a nursery, ought to be able to make their choices in these areas. Even Adolf Hitler, that strong opponent of tobacco, did not forbid smoking in bars (O’Shea, 1998, pp. 134-136). Of course they do have rights to make their choices, but non-smokers around them also have the right to live free from bothersome smoke. If only the rights of smokers were respected, then very many people would suffer from it. Many people are always annoyed by people smoking when they are walking. It is hard to understand why they have to smoke when they are walking on the road. If people want to smoke, they can go to a smoking area or under ventilating fans. Since cigarettes harm people’s health, smokers should care about the non-smokers, and must have their rights restricted.
When people smoke in public—it might be in the bus or metro station, in the park, in the restaurant, or any public area, like on the street—there are always other people suffering from the smoke they produce. As most people know, passive smoking is very bad for the health. It is as harmful as smoking because secondhand smoke contains many toxic chemicals. By breathing it, it damages blood and blood vessels are damaged just like smokers (Glantz, 2006, 520-521). At first, people feel irritation in the throat and eyes, and suffer from nausea and headache, but passive smoking also starts to harm their lungs or hearts even though they do not smoke, and many people are actually dying from it. It is actually responsible for 50,000 deaths in the U.S. every year; 3,000 of them are dying from lung cancer, 12,000 from other cancers, and 35,000 of them are dying from heart disease. In fact, “’passive smoking’ is the third leading cause of premature death in the United States” (Smoak Jr., 1998, pp.128-133). Moreover, if pregnant women are exposed to second-hand smoke, not only them but also their unborn baby will suffer from it. According to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, passive smoking by pregnant women may cause miscarriage, stillbirth, sudden unfant death syndrome, premature birth and low birth weight of the baby (2004, pp.1). Second-hand smoke also has a power to take away the precious life of the baby who is not yet to be born. It is certainly not fair to see people who are not choosing to smoke themselves dying like this.
Public bans on smoking will have a good influence on smokers too. The result of the smoking ban in Ireland suggests us that the number of smokers will decrease by setting a ban on smoking in public (Wilkinson, 2005). Based on an editorial in The Lancet, citing an estimate made by the Royal College of Physicians, a smoking ban in all workplaces in England would help 300,000 people to quit smoking and it would save 150,000 lives in the UK (How do you sleep, 2003, para.5). It is obvious to everyone, even to smokers themselves, that smoking is bad for the health. It only harms one’s health and does nothing good. For example, it causes lung cancer, emphysema—damage in lung tissue, organic disease and heart attack (Izenberg, 2004, para. 2). All it does is make people sick and make their life shorter. Every single cigarette equals to a 5 to 20 minutes off one’s life (Izenberg, 2004, para.10). Tobacco not only causes diseases, but also death and it is not a rare case. Tobacco is responsible for 4.2 million deaths every year in the world, and it is estimated that the number of the death per year will increase up to 10 million by the late 2020s (How do you sleep, 2003, para.5). If the ban was set all around the world, it would help save thousands of people in the future.
Furthermore, smoking in public could have a negative influence on young people. Actually, as a survey by Campaign for Tobbaco-Free Kids shows, 90% of adult smokers start smoking when they are teenagers, and about two thirds of them become regular smokers before they are 19 years old (Gallogly, 2006). Looking at adults smoking cigarettes stimulates children to get interested in smoking and to get the idea that smoking is cool because it makes them look older. It is estimated that among those people who are under 18 years old, every day 4,000 of them experience their first cigarette, and more than 1,000 of them eventually become addicted to it and 6,000,000 of those young smokers are expected to eventually die from smoking (Lindblom and McMahon, 2006). Many young people start smoking out of curiosity at first, but since cigarettes are addictive, they cannot quit smoking. The longer one smokes, the more one is likely to suffer from diseases such as lung cancer.
Smoking might help people to ease stress and relax, but the smokers should think about others when they smoke. Certainly, if they smoke in public, many people are bothered. They are annoyed by the smoke and feel uncomfortable in the throat and eyes. They can also get sick, or even die from this passive smoking. Also, society has to think about the impact of smoking on children. Adult smoking may not be the only reason for children’s tobacco use, but it surely gives an impression that smoking makes them look older. Of course, the longer one smokes, the more chances one will suffer from diseases or death. Smoking should be prohibited in public areas because if people stop smoking in public, these problems will be solved, or at least the situation will be better.
Reference
American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation (2006). Overview list—how many smokefree laws? Retrieved December 6, 2006, from http://www.no-smoke.org/pdf/mediaordlist.pdf
Gallogly, M. (2006). Smoking and kids. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0104.pdf
Glantz, S. A. (2006). Smoking. In The World Book Encycropedia (520-521), Chicago: World Book.
How do you sleep at night, Mr. Blair? (2003). The Lancet, 362, 1865. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from the EBSCOhost Research Databases (152)
Izenberg, N. (2004). Smoking. Retrieved December 6, 2006 from http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smoking.html
Lindblom, E. & McMahon, K. (2006). Toll of tobacco in the United States of America. Retrieved November 14, 2006 from http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research
List of smoking bans. (2006). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 6, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smiking_bans
O’Shea. M. L. (1998). Smoking should be banned in all public areas. In B, Leone. (Ed.), Tobacco and smoking (pp.134-136), California: Greenhaven Press, Inc.
Smoak Jr, R.D. (1998). Smoking should be banned in all public buildings. In B, Leone. (Ed.), Tobacco and smoking (pp.128-133), California: Greenhaven Press, Inc.
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead (2004). Fact sheet—passive smoking. Retrieved December 13, 2006, from http://www.chw.edu.au/parents/factsheets/pdf/passive_smoking.pdf
Where the smoke is. (2006, September 24). In The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 6, 2006, from
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/09/24/where_the_smoke_is/
Wilkson, E. (2005).Smoking ban in public places helps in quitting. Pulse, 65, 10. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from the EBSCOhost Research Databases (50)
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