Should we ban smoking altogether?

Public smoking bans date all the way back to 1590, when Pope Urban VII banned it in all forms (chewing, smoking, or sniffing its powder) on church property, under threat of excommunication. Smoking bans today are public policies, including legal prohibitions and occupational health and safety regulations that restrict smoking in public places. Their aim is to protect workers, citizens, and children from chronic and acute diseases caused by secondhand smoke (Lantz, 47).

A Harvard Medical School study of more than 10,000 students enrolled at 119 nationally representative U.S. colleges in 2001 identified 51 percent as “social smokers.” Other studies focusing on age and gender reported that both girls and boys experienced pressure to drink and smoke at a young age. A 2001 National Institutes of Health study among 4,200 middle school teens found that peer pressure, particularly among one's five closest friends (more so for girls than boys), influenced smoking and drinking patterns (Kaufman, 58). In contrast, parents who were more engaged in their children's lives—conversing, listening to their problems, attending their after-school events—were more likely to have children who did not drink or smoke (Forest, 11).

Sidestream smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including 69 known carcinogens. In 2005, the CDC found that 3,000 people died every year in the United States from lung cancer and another 46,000 from heart disease, all caused by secondhand smoke. Another study concluded that lifelong nonsmokers with partners who smoke in the home have a 20-30 percent greater risk of lung cancer, and those exposed to cigarette smoke in the workplace have an increased risk of 16-19 percent. Involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke remains a serious public health hazard that can be prevented by making homes, workplaces, and public places completely smoke-free (Lantz, 48).

In spite of the progress made thus far, ...