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A Proposal to Ban Smoking in Public Areas
Every year, there are more than 200,000 deaths, which are related to
smoking. Many of these are because of lung cancer. Due to the problems from
second hand smoke, many of the deaths are of those who do not smoke. What are
these people to do who cannot even stop the second hand smoke from penetrating
their lungs because public areas allow the use of cigarettes.
This is a problem that all Americans should recognize in order to protect
the health of their families and also for people around the world. I mean, think of
this situation. You’re with your significant other with your three kids, going to
your significant others birthday dinner. When asked whether you would like
smoking or non-smoking, you reply neither due to the concern for your family’s
health. In reality, just being within that restaurant is a risk.
This issue that plagues all Americans, should have action taken on a local
scale to help protect the health of their people. One way to solve this problem is to
use air purifiers in order to clean the air. Only problem with this is the fact that
even the most expensive air filtration system cannot get rid of all the poisons and
toxins in the air from second hand smoke. Another solution would be to separate
rooms for smoking and non-smoking. If a wall separates the rooms, than less
second hand smoke will be in the air for those who want a non-smoking area. The
only problem is that the rooms with smokers would have to have its own kind of
ventilation system to get the smoke out. This would cost more money for them to
build the wall and then install the new ventilation system. Another way to solve
this problem would be to just reduce the toxicity of cigarettes. Rolling up a
cigarette is safer than smoking a brand cigarette. Because when rolling a cigarette,
the toxics used in order to keep the cigarette together are not there. (From
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rhetoric/105H18/proposal/shw.htm).
Many doctors explain how second hand smoke can be detrimental to
babies. According to
http://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/nbreastfeed/0,,3wsj,00.html,
“Only 15% of cigarette smoke is inhaled by the smoker, and 85% is
let out as second hand smoke. Second hand smoke contains more
than 4,000 chemicals. Between 50,000 and 300,000 lower
respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months
of each year (resulting in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations) blamed
on exposure to second hand smoke.”
This means that if you are a chain smoker, you have a good chance of causing
your young ones to be hospitalized due to respiratory infection. Along with that,
second hand smoke can cause irritations, such as cough, excess phlegm and
wheezing. Disease such as asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia can develop in the
infants. Lets think of a scenario, lets say a husband and wife go to a restaurant
with their three-month-old daughter. The restaurant has a separate smoking and
non-smoking booths. Even if the couple is to choose non-smoking, the infant is
still going to be affected by the second hand smoke and harm its reparatory
system. If you were to take your infant to your parents’ house and they are chain
smokers, wouldn’t you ask them to avoid smoking around the baby so that the
baby will not develop a respiratory infection, however you cannot do this when
you go to a public area.
According to http://www.smoking-facts.net/, cigarettes are neuropathic
stimulators. They contain nicotine and the chemical vicotine. In the brain, the
neurotransmitter Achetcoline is the natural stimulant, released in the nervous
system as a stimulant in the Fight or Flight reaction (stimulates your body to run
away from a situation). The drug nicotine replaces the natural ACH; then the brain
stops manufacturing ACH on its own becoming dependent on the nicotine. When
the constant supply of nicotine ends, the Brain flips out because it can no longer
produce the crucial neurotransmitter ACH, having to relearn how to make it. Due
to the lack of ACH manufacturing ability, the brain needs the nicotine to help the
body function. When theres prolong deprivation from nicotine the brain slowly
begins to shut down the areas that are ACH dependent until it can make its own;
which affects the liver, adrenal glands, endocrine glands, kidneys, and the spleen.
In addiction termination, anti smoke gum/patches are used. These
gums/patches work on step system, slowly weening one off the drug nicotine and
coaxing the brain into relearning how to manufacture ACH. Once the addiction
has stopped, it can reoccur, however will be worse the second time around making
it harder for the person to recover. This can also happen when it come to second
hand smoke and would be unfair to the innocent bystander who is inhaling the
second hand smoke and could become addicted.
Many benefits would be gained by making smoking illegal in public places.
The main one being that the decrease in public smoking would decrease the threat
to innocent people to obtain lung cancer because of public smoking. Those who
have chosen not to smoke have made their decision, just as those who decide to
smoke have. The difference is, however, smokers are endanger their own lives
along with the lives of innocent people around them. So basically, someone who
has chosen not to smoke in order to keep themselves healthy are still being
endangered by those who smoke, and cannot guarantee being safe from tobacco.
By banning public smoking, nonsmokers will be protected from the lifethreatening situation of going out and having a smoke free area to go. Another
benefit of banning smoking in public areas is that it will force smokers to cut
down on their consumption of cigarettes and in the long run protect their hearts
and lungs, and also keeping people from starting to smoke. This will decrease the
problem, without creating new problems. By banning smoking in public places,
smoking is given a negative connotation, which will help to keep young people
from ever-starting smoking, as well as encouraging current smokers to quit. In
America, millions of people smoke, but approximately 3 out of 5 say they’d like to
quit (also from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/). Making smoking illegal in public
places gives a great incentive to these people to stop putting themselves, as well as
others at risk.
I believe that establishing a penalty for anyone who smokes in a public area
should be included in this proposal. Every law enforcement officer would be given
the ability to issue tickets to people who violated the ban in public areas. The
punishment for this offense should be serious enough to cause an alarm to those
who are going to break the rules. A $20.00 fine would not get the job done
because it wouldn’t be taken seriously. Currently bans when driving and smoking
have citations that are not a big deal. The fine should be set to $200.00 to $300.00,
with the punishment increasing if there are multiple offenses. It is this clause that
will keep people from smoking in public areas, and this must also be added to
accomplish the objective. Other punishments could include community service.
The first offense could be a fine, but second offense would be community service
that would involve picking up cigarettes butts off the ground and from ashtrays.
These days, though out the United States, there is an enormous problem of
cigarette smoke putting peoples lives in danger. By approving this ban to make
smoking illegal in public areas, the lives of the people of the United States will no
longer have to suffer from second hand smoke and people who currently smoke
will be discouraged from continuing to do so.
Sources
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rhetoric/105H18/proposal/shw.htm
http://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/nbreastfeed/0,,3wsj,00.html
http://www.smoking-facts.net/
An Analysis of Smoking Patterns among Older Adults, Hirsch S Ruchlin, Medical Care,
Vol. 37