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Banning smoking in public areas
Causes and effects of smoking
Banning smoking in public areas
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Have you ever been in a restaurant eating your favorite food, then just when you are about to take a bite, you inhale a cloud of smoke coming from the nearby smoking section? This has been a complaint from many non-smoking restaurant goers. While it is true that smoking cigarettes and breathing them in causes many health problems, is it fair to of take the freedom those Americans who want to smoke and enjoy their meal? This topic is very debatable and in many cases has reached compromises, but I would stand by the argument that smoking should be banned from all public areas because the unfiltered smoke is getting into the lungs of bystanders who do not smoke, and causing some major health problems, and in many cases death.
Smoking is a simple process of inhaling and exhaling the smoke of tobacco, but it has deadly consequences. According to the American Cancer Society, smoking, damages nearly every organ in the body and is linked to 15 different types of cancer. Second hand smoking is another story. While the person is not directly inhaling the deadly toxins, they are involuntary inhaling the unfiltered part of the cigarette. There are two forms of smoke that second hand smoke puts off. These are side stream smoke and mainstream smoke. Side stream smoke is the smoke that comes off the end of a lighted cigarette, pipe, or cigar. Mainstream smoke is smoke that is exhaled by the smoker. Second hand smoke is a “known human carcinogen”, or a cancer causing agent. It has been linked to cancers of all kinds, ear infections, asthma, heart disease, lung infections, and death (American Cancer Society). So if we know that all of these terrible things come from inhaling other people’s cigarettes what are we doing to control it?
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...se everyone who is surrounding the smoker is affected. Smoking should be done at one’s house or not at all. Smokers may not realize what they are doing when they smoke around other non- smokers, but they are hurting them. Those who oppose this ban, may believe that they hold strong arguments, but no argument can really beat out they argument between saving people’s lives and killing them slowly. This smoking ban will be for the good of the city of Fort Wayne, and for its entire population.
Sources Cited
"Secondhand Smoke" American Cancer Society, 2014. Web. 27 June 2015.
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/secondhand-smoke
"New report gives Indiana F's on smoking policies" Journal Gazette, January 29, 2015. Web. 27 June 2015.
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/New-report-gives-Indiana-F-s-on-smoking-policies-4740538
Scientists still don’t know all the reasons why this happens. With 23 million women still smoking. Lung cancer will remain a deadly epidemic threatening the lives of millions of women. Second hand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a human carcinogen.
... “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.
Each year 440,000 people die, in the United States alone, from the effects of cigarette smoking (American Cancer Society, 2004). As discussed by Scheraga & Calfee (1996) as early as the 1950’s the U.S. government has utilized several methods to curb the incidence of smoking, from fear advertising to published health warnings. Kao & Tremblay (1988) and Tremblay & Tremblay (1995) agreed that these early interventions by the U.S. government were instrumental in the diminution of the national demand for cigarettes in the United States. In more recent years, state governments have joined in the battle against smoking by introducing antismoking regulations.
With the looming statewide ban, many smokers feel that they have had their rights taken away, and are left with very little options.
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 tobacco has long been an accepted form of recreational drug use, despite a history of flip-flops in 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.
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.
Results of several researches from studies have proven that concentrations of tobacco smoke in public places possess the risk to individuals, children, and the environment. Even cigarette butts are equally hazardous for the environment and many creatures, especially in the sea. Cigarette filters are the single most picked up thing in international beaches cleaning every year [5]. Smoking ban can benefit in several ways – from saving of lives, the prevention of disability, to a dramatic decline in health care costs – majority of which are carried by nonsmokers who otherwise are impelled to pay exaggerated health insurance premiums and higher taxes. The recently laid ban on smoking in public places is a smart move. Support of smokers for smoking ban in public places is truly much-needed to make it successful. Smoking is extremely harmful to the health of nonsmokers and to nature; smokers should be self-discipline, socially responsible, and avoid smoking in restricted public outdoor areas even if no official eye is catching them.
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.
Smoking can negatively affect your system in just a few days, and over time, smokers rarely think about the greater dangers, such as lung cancer, skin cancer, and birth defects. Although I don't smoke, I am still aware of these dangers and try to keep myself away from situations where I am surrounded by smoke. The majority of people don't know that breathing in second-hand smoke is actually worse than smoking a cigarette. People who are constantly surrounded by smokers in places such as bars and restaurants are affected by the smoke they breathe in. While people assume that inhaling smoke straight from the cigarette is worse than secondhand smoke, they forget that the smoker has a filter that holds back some of the toxins that people around them can easily breathe in.
Seguire notes that, legislative smoke bans vary in their depth in different settings (2000). For instance, they are up in the air on the level to which they tolerate smoking or contain it to designated points and where those restrictions occur. Prohibiting smoking indoors, in restaurants and in bars could bring a start to a widespread smoking ban. It is worth noting that, exceptions may occur in different settings, for instance, nursing homes, prisons, and residential homes. Less extreme bans, such as those that allow smoking in designated rooms or rates create partial bans. Sen & Wirjanto believes that, smoking bans in Canada may have Potential to affect a great number of people in the populace at minimum cost. It is imperative to create a supportive environment for those who want to quit and help people who continue smoking to reduce their tobacco consumption
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.
Daynard.R., (2013). Regulatory Approaches to Ending Cigarette-Caused Death and Disease in the United States. Boston University School of Law; American Journal of Law and Medicine.
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.
Smoking cigarettes is a very deadly addiction that, unfortunately, 42.1 million adults in the United States and 6.4 million children have. The reason why so many people get addicted to cigarettes because of nicotine. Medicinenet.com says that nicotine is “Made by the tobacco plant or produced synthetically. Nicotine has powerful pharmacologic effects (including increased heart rate, heart stroke volume, and oxygen consumption by the heart muscle), as well as powerful psychodynamic effects (such as euphoria, increased alertness, and a sense of relaxation). Nicotine is also powerfully addictive.”