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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx2009Cigarette Smoking in Public PlacesThe effects of tobacco smoke on non-smokers were little known about 20 years ago.People were not aware of the adverse effects on non-smokers who are living and working insmoke-filled environments. In the course of years, a vast body of scientific evidence has proventhat passive smoking can badly affect the health of non-smokers. Passive smoking is actually breathing other people's smoke and it is also known as secondhand smoke. Not only is cigarettesmoke dangerous for smokers, but also for people in their presence. Non-smokers can also beinfluenced by breathing in tobacco smoke at work, in bars, restaurants, hospitals, on buses, andother environments filled with tobacco smoke. Due to the side effects of passive smoking on non-smokers, cigarette smoking in public places should be banned.Secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a combination of twodifferent types of smoke: the first is called mainstream smoke, the smoke which is breathed in bythe smoker, inhaled and then exhaled. The second is sidestream smoke, which is released into theair from the burning end of a cigarette. "The constituents of mainstream and sidestream smokeare similar but their concentrations differ, in general being higher in sidestream smoke. The greatmajority of SHS consist of sidestream smoke" (Barron 8)..In the past, smokers were not familiar with the fact that thetobacco smoke they exhale isalso poisonous for people around them. But today, scientists have concluded that many illnessesare connected with tobacco smoke. Anybody exposed to sidestream smoke has an increased

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probability of lung and coronary heart disorder, breast cancer, stroke, asthma or worsening of asthma, respiratory symptoms, iritation of the eyes and nose. Children are specially prone to thehealth effects of smoke, causing middle ear infections, increased risk of Sudden Infant DeathSyndrome, bronchitis, pneumonia, coughing, wheezing. Smoking in the near presence of pregnant woman can hurt the unborn baby; there is an increased risk of sudden infant deathsyndrome and larger chance of having a lower birthweight (Haustein 224).For too long, society has had an affection for smoking considering it as an innocent badhabit, but it is time for it to be considered as a social threat, jeopardizing the health of the addict,his family, and acquaintances. If public presentation of the habit is socially-unacceptable behaviour, the position of the smoker will swiftly shrink (Shephard 11). Johann Wolfgang vonGoethe once wrote that "smokers pollute the air far and wide and asphyxiate every respectableindividual who cannot smoke in self-defence. Who can enter the room of a smoker withoutfeeling nausea?" (qtd. in Shephard 9).What we could do to stop the excessive use of tobacco? First of all, governments shouldincrease taxes on tobacco products. This would probably have an influence on people to quit or not to start smoking at all, especially on young people who often have low income. However,many governments are unwilling to act to reduce tobacco use, because they are worried that theenforcement of stricter laws of tobacco use could harm the economy, by decreasing theeconomical benefit of growing, producing, selling, and taxing tobacco.Are governments' fears verified by the facts? In fact, these worries are mostlyunsupported. A group of 30 well-known international experts analyzed currently available dataand came to conclusion that tobacco control would not cause the loss of jobs, it would actuallygenerate new jobs. "Tax increases would increase (not decrease) total tax revenues, even if cigarette smuggling increased to some extent" (Djutaharta et al. 7).

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On the other hand, the best way to protect non-smokers from the dangers of secondhandsmoke is to ban smoking in public places. Unfortunately, it is not an easy task to execute. Thegovernment would have to decide what public places will actually be smoke-free, the decisionwhich should depend on the recommendations of people. There is a possibility of adding separateareas for smokers and non-smokers; separate smoking and non-smoking areas are common in bars and restaurants. Installation of ventilation can improve air quality and provides a morecomfortable environment; it is often used in tandem with separate smoking and non-smokingareas. Nevertheless, "the BMA [the British Medical Association] has concluded that ventilationdoes not provide effective protection against the health hazards of passive smoking" (Smoking in public places 3).It is no excuse anymore for smokers to pollute the air which is also breathed in by non-smokers. Smokers have to know that they damage their health, and the health of others. Passivesmoking has been proven as a cause of many diseases: lung cancer, hearth stroke, breast cancer,asthma. For the sake of our children, smokers have to be more thoughtful since children areespecially vulnerable to the health hazards of secondhand smoke. Smokers should acknowledgethat their habit is not as innocent as they think; smoking habit has to be counted as a socialmenace.Citizens have a duty to pressure the government to adopt the regulation of firmer tobaccouse in public. Going smoke-free in public places is the only sure way of protecting non-smokers.Works CitedBarron, Kevin.

Category:	School Work > Essays & Theses
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Upload Date:	07/17/2009
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Tags:	Smoking public places cigarette Smoking public places cigarette (fewer)

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