Are you tired of trying to enjoy yourself and coming across the atrocious smell of secondhand smoke? The number of smokers has highly increased within the past years and although it’s become pretty common I think that smoking in public places should be banned.
Although smoking is a choice it is highly addictive and it’s super unhealthy not only for the smoker but for those who surround them. Second-hand smoke contains 7000 chemicals and of those 70 can cause cancer.(CDC 2018). When you’re out trying to enjoy yourself you don’t want to have to worry about having smoke blowing in your face or getting your clothes ruined by the smell of smoke. There are many reasons why smoking in public should be banned and I will mention some of those reasons below.
Secondhand smoke is also one of the leading causes of many diseases from cardiovascular disease to lung cancer even sids.. More than 8,000 people have died of a stroke because of exposure to secondhand smoke. Being exposed to it can raise your blood pressure, reduce how much oxygen your heart gets, and cause you to get blood clots which can lead to a heart attack. Each year about 7,300 people are diagnosed with lung cancer even though they have never smoked.
About 154,050 people are expected to die from lung cancer this year. The rate has dropped by 6.5% since 2016 when the number of deaths reached 159, 292 Studies also show that women’s exposure to secondhand smoke while pregnant can increase the chances of SIDS. It’s also known that it can lead to respiratory problems later in life like asthma. There have been 34,000 premature deaths because of secondhand smoke a year. To me, that’s a high price to pay for someone else’s choices especially being so young and innocent and not being able to voice their opinion. The youth nowadays is easily influenced and I think that being able to smoke in public sets a bad example.
If the rate continues to rise 5.6 million of today’s youth younger than 18 will die of a disease related to smoking. That would be 1 in 13 kids under the age of 18. Teenagers often want to grow up faster and may feel like smoking will make them look cool. This could also come in handy for people trying to quit smoking but haven’t had enough willpower to do so . According to Daily Mail in England 400,00 have quit smoking because of the ban on smoking in public places. Also, the banning of smoking may have people smoking less since they wouldn’t be able to do it as often which could really help improve the environment. Statistics show that about 4.3 trillion cigarettes end up as litter (tree hugger 2018).
Cigarette butts are made up of polymer cellulose acetate which never degrades and takes about twelve years if not more to break apart. There have also been occasions when cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish and birds. The chemicals that make up the butts have also been known to highly contaminate the ocean water because of the hundreds of chemicals that compose a cigarette. Many may say that banning smoking from public places is interfering with their freedom of expression and that it’s their right as a citizen, but I also think that the nonsmoker population has the right to clean breathing air without having to worry about our health risk and those of our loved ones. There have been many occasions where I have been at the mall or store and people are smoking and will not care if you have a child with you they’re practically smoking in your face.
Yes, it’s a choice but it’s highly addictive and affects everyone’s health around them and to me that’s a lot more important than anything. Especially since the diseases you can contract from secondhand smoke can be fatal. Every year more than 1,000 people are killed due to fires caused by cigarette smoking. Many people just toss their cigarettes when they are done smoking without putting them out.
During the summer time is when you hear more of the fires caused by someone who tossed a cigarette while driving. In 1999 in france a person through a lighted cigarette from a moving car causing a lot of damages causing 39 deaths and 1 billion in losses between France and Italy. Also the Oakland hills fire in California was the cause of 10,00 people losing their homes and left more than 1.5 billion in damages. In Texas in 1947 a cigarette butt ignited an ammonium nitrate explosion which resulted in almost 600 deaths and left nearly 400 in the hospital for more than two months. It also damaged more than 90% of the city costing more than 4 billion dollars.
Secondhand smoke can also cause infertility and early menopause. Women who have never smoked but were exposed to secondhand smoke are 18% more likely to have fertility issues. Studies also linked it to an early start to menopause. Smoking can also cause financial stress about 193 billion is spent a year in the United States. Healthcare spends about 96 billion on smoking related issues that was not including the cost for secondhand smoke which back in 2006 came out to around 10 billion a year. In the last 12 years smoking has become more of popular things so I’m sure the cost has definitely gone up.
Nearly 48,000 smokers have died from smoking and 42,000 from being exposed to secondhand smoke. In a couple states Marijuana is now legal so I think that allowing people to smoke in public spaces may encourage Marijuana users to smoke that in public spaces too. Even though many people don’t see it as a dangerous drug it does have some side effects and the smell is not pleasant. Smoking can alter your senses and cause body impairment and when taken in high doses it can cause delusions (National Institute Of Drug Abuse). This could also influence the younger generations and may want to try other drugs in public.
