Cigarette smoking is one of the favorite trends not only in American society, but in every civilization around the world. Despite the fact that smoking has almost become a part of the American tradition; this habit should be discouraged and even banned in order to promote safety of the nation’s stakeholders. Thus, this paper seeks to identify and evaluate the varied reasons that would justify the banning of cigarette smoking. Several literature suggest that while America is a democratic country that supports its citizen’s freedom, the government must limit such freedom when practices like smoking destroys the life of the smoker, the non-smokers, the environment, and the nation’s economy. The 2014 Surgeon General’s Report substantiates this claim and concludes that cigarette smoking is the cause of the nation’s massive economic waste and devastating loss of lives. (Congressional Digest, p.2)
Three studies support the findings that cigarette smoking has dangerous and adverse health hazards not only to the smoker, but also to non-smokers who involuntarily inhale second hand smoke. The study of Stephen Vida and his colleagues “Tumours And Cigarette Smoking: Analysis Of The Interphone Canada Case-Control Study” proves that smoking can lead to brain tumor. The US Public Health Service in their examination, analysis and evaluation of the Surgeon General Report of 2006 states that inhalation of second hand smoke which they call as “environmental tobacco smoke” has extreme health consequences when inhaled. These effects include SIDS or sudden infant death syndrome, lung cancer, coronary heart disease, severe asthma, acute respiratory infections and cardiovascular problems. The 2006 report also warns the public that exposure to secondhand smoke has no risk-free level. (Public Health Service, p.7) Another research that strengthen the discovery that cigarette smoking has extreme health consequences is the recent study of Kangcheng Wang and company. In their research, "The Neural Mechanisms Underlying The Acute Effect Of Cigarette Smoking On Chronic Smokers,” the authors conclude that prolong cigarette smoking damages the brain.
Aside from its health effects, most of the literature emphasize that cigarette smoking is a financial burden to the smoker and the government. According to to the 2014 Surgeon General Report, the annual health care cost that is attributed to cigarette smoking ranges from S289-$333 billion. Thomas Parish presents the same conclusion in his journal “Financing Smoking Related Illness and Smoking Cessation: Can it be Done?” Parish points out that the cost of medication of smoking-related diseases plus the productivity loss due to these illnesses can total to $150 billion. He adds that smoking puts a tremendous economic burden on the smoker as the cumulative economic burden of cigarette smoking in the United States totals more than $150 billion per year. (Parish, p.2)
Furthermore, the 2014 Report of the Surgeon General reveals that despite the known adverse consequences of smoking, 42 million adults and 3.5 high school students continue to smoke. The report blames advertising and persuasive promotional activities of tobacco industries as the cause of people’s indulgence to smoking. The article cites that the youth are one of the vulnerable audiences who are urged to start smoking because of TV ads and ultimately leads to nicotine addiction. Jordan Larry presents similar issue in his news article published in Midwest Today. Larry's “Big Tobacco's Deadly Deceits” directly proclaims that US tobacco companies have been deceiving the American public for decades and have cost millions of lives because of their deadly products. The author quotes the American Medical Association that states that “the industry has managed to spread confusion by suppressing, manipulating, and distorting the scientific record.” (Jordan, p.7) The tobacco industry had remained profitable by selling their products that are long known as lethal by physicians and scientists through false and deceiving advertisements. Stephen Marcus affirms the findings of the Surgeon General about smoking among youth in his study “Measuring Tobacco Use Among Adolescents.” Marcus presents the fact that many highschool students of today are trying their very first puff at an earlier age as compared to those of the previous generations.
Other than adverse health consequences and financial burden, some of the literature points out that cigarette smoking destroys the environment. Cheryl Healton discusses this environmental impact in her article, “Butt really? The environmental impact of cigarettes.” Healton says that millions of cigarette butts are improperly disposed all over the country and they are not just little litter problem. She implies that these butts contain carcinogenic chemicals that are hazardous to animals and the environment. Healton reiterates that the demand on tobacco urge tobacco companies to convert lands and forests to tobacco plantation which destroys the ecological balance.
The literature reviewed overwhelmingly suggest that cigarette smoking must be banned in order to prevent smoking-related death and diseases and save millions of lives. They also imply that banning of cigarettes would lessen the financial burden of every household, as well as the state. Lastly, some of the literature points out that cigarette smoking should be banned because it poses negative environmental impact.
Works Cited
"2014 Surgeon General's Report On Smoking." Congressional Digest 94.4 (2015): 3-32.
Marcus, Stephen E., and others. "Measuring Tobacco Use Among Adolescents." Public Health Reports. Supp. 1 1993: 20-24.
Public Health Service. “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to
Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General.” 2006: 1-26.
Jordan, Larry. "Big Tobacco's Deadly Deceits." Midwest Today. June/July 1996: 6-13.
Vida, Stephen, et al. "Brain Tumours And Cigarette Smoking: Analysis Of The
Interphone Canada Case-Control Study. "Environmental Health: A Global Access
Science Source 13.1 (2014): 1-16.
Wang, Kangcheng, et al. "The Neural Mechanisms Underlying The Acute Effect Of
Cigarette Smoking On Chronic Smokers." Plos ONE 9.7 (2014): 1-8.
Healton, Cheryl et al. “Butt really? The environmental impact of cigarettes.” 2011. Web.
3 Jul. 2015. <http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i1.full>
Parish, Thomas. “Financing Smoking Related Illness and Smoking Cessation: Can it be
Done?” The Internet Journal of Health. 3.2 (2003).
