Slide 2
Smoking is an addiction, such as an addiction to drugs or to alcohol. It is dependence, which causes great harm to health. To overcome it one any method can be used. Banning smoking in public places is one of the most decisive and impactful way to reduce the number of smokers and lessen of harm caused by second-hand smoking.
The main objectives of the ban on smoking in public places are protection of the health of non-smokers and fire safety. Other reasons include preserving the purity of the premises, as well as higher labour capacity of non-smoking employees.
Slide 3
Smoking, even without regard to smoking in public areas, is of great danger to the human health. Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemical compounds. More than 250 of these chemicals are known to be harmful, and at least 69 are known to cause cancer (“Secondhand smoke”).
Secondhand smoking is the main problem which relates to smoking in public areas as non-smokers against their will are subject to hazardous influence of tobacco smoke and in a passive manner become full smokers.
Many people suffer chronic and debilitating conditions caused by secondhand smoke-related diseases. These include emphysema, cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis and asthma (“Facts about secondhand smoke”).
Secondhand smoke exposure causes an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths annually among adult non-smokers in the United States (“Secondhand Smoke (SHS) Facts”).
Secondhand smoke exposure causes an estimated 3,400 lung cancer deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States (“Secondhand Smoke (SHS) Facts”).
The graph sheds light on the interrelation of smoking with different fatal diseases. Almost half of the million people die annually because of their weakness to smoking or because of being a victim to secondhand smoking.
Slide 5
The graph shows us the level of exposure to secondhand smoke of different categories of people. The most vulnerable to secondhand smoking in public places are children, Afro-Americans and people below the poverty line.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sum up that there is no known safe level of secondhand smoke. They advise to reduce exposures as low as possible (“Secondhand smoke”).
As considered among scholars, almost half of non-smokers and more that 60% of children in the US continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke (“Secondhand smoke”).
The right to health and to conditions guaranteeing well-being of any human being is a fundamental human right that was recognized among all the nations in the world. The violation of it is totally unacceptable. Each person`s right to smoke should end where the health of other persons begins
Slide 6
Smoking in public places is a bad influence for future smokers – kids. Children look up to their role models (relatives, for example). Those role models who smoke are an example for inheriting.
The graphs show the following tendencies. The first one is that year by year number of students in the US smoking cigarettes goes down due to many factors, in particular because of effective governmental measures. The second graph shows that the percentage of young people who smoke is larger in the age group of 18-25 years. That proves the conclusion that the environment is the predominant reason for starting to smoke. Age of 18 to 25 is that period when the person interacts with the largest number of people, makes acquaintances with new people and develops new habits.
Each day, more than 3,000 kids in the United States try their first cigarette; and another 700 additional kids under 18 years of age become new regular, daily smokers. That is more than 250,000 new underage daily smokers in this country each year (“Smoking and kids”).
References
Daily Cigarette Use. (2013, July). Child Trends Data Bank. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=daily-cigarette-use
Effects of Secondhand Smoke. (2012, May 12). WebMD. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/effects-of-secondhand-smoke
Secondhand Smoke (SHS) Facts (n.d.). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/general_facts/index.htm
Secondhand Smoke. What is secondhand smoke? (2013, December 17). American Cancer society. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/secondhand-smoke
Smoking and Kids. (n.d.). Campaign for tobacco-free kids. [PDF file]. Available from http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0001.pdf
