SMOKING BANS

Smoking Bans

Smoking Bans

Introduction

One of the most popular habits in today's society is smoking. Smoking is defined as the action of inhaling tobacco from a pipe, cigar or cigarette. Yet each year, cigarette smoking kills more Americans than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, suicides, illegal drugs and fires combined. Smoking is an extremely bad pastime, practiced for centuries, for an individual's health and those surrounding him/her.

Discussion

According to British Heart Foundation there are an estimated 50 million people who smoke. Many smokers claim that smoking relieves them of stress and relaxes and comforts them. There are many hazardous ingredients in cigarette tobacco. Some of the ingredients are poisonous and addictive. Cigarette smoke produces thousands of chemicals that are hazardous to a smoker's health. There are over 4000 chemicals produced by a burning cigarette which at least 200 chemicals are known to be poisonous to people health.

Filters help to block and reduce some of the chemicals, but they will not stop them completely. Cigarette smoke also contains carbon monoxide, the same poisonous gases released from a car exhaust pipe. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless highly toxic gas that reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Combined with the effects produced by the nicotine, it creates an imbalance in the demand for oxygen by the cells and the amount of oxygen the blood is able to supply.

Pipe and cigar smokers who have never smoked cigarettes tend to be non-inhalers and their health risks are not as great as those of cigarette smokers. Due to the stronger, more alkaline smoke and longer periods of puffing, satisfying amounts of nicotine are absorbed slowly through the lining of the mouth and throat. However, their risk for cancers of the mouth and throat are significantly higher than that of nonsmokers(Van Geel, 2002).

Cigarette smoking also dramatically increases heart disease. The heart disease risk factors that are changed by tobacco smoking are high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and physical inactivity. A smoker's chance of developing lung cancer or heart disease is twice that as a non-smoker, and up to 4 times more of smoking 2 or more packs a day. In the late 1980's, smoking caused 30% of all lung cancer deaths and %20 of all heart disease deaths.

Equally important, is how cigarette smoke affects the health of others. What has become known as second-hand smoke or "passive smoking" can be just as dangerous as first-hand smoke. In a closed room cigarette smoke can produce enough carbon monoxide to affect everyone who is in it. Passive smoking is suspected of being the cause of thousands of cases of lung cancer each year(World Health Organization 2008).

In response to the public's growing concern, public and private groups have tried to reduce exposure to passive smoke. State and local governments started passing clean indoor air laws that restricted smoking in a variety of public places, such as restaurants, elevators, public meeting rooms, and in the workplace. Bars, taverns and clubs, including those in restaurants and hotels, ...