Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
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