Smoking Essay Example (My Opinion)

Smoking is so bad

Jamason, diagnosed with asthma as an infant, has never smoked a cigarette. One day, he was cleaning up at the fast food restaurant where he worked. Unfortunately, he was cleaning near a group of his coworkers that were on their “smoke break”. Shortly after he returned inside, he started having trouble breathing. Frantically, he called his mother, who arrived to find him gasping for air.
He was then hospitalized for four days for something he couldn’t have prevented. Fortunately, Jamason Coles, an average high schooler here, in Lexington, Kentucky, lived after medical treatment. Sadly, others are not so lucky. Smoking in public places is not only detrimental to the health of the smoker, but those around them, and it should be banned in most public places.

Smoking a cigarette may be a normal routine to some, but in reality, it is purely a harmful activity. Ingesting smoke can be lethal, and can cause many diseases, such as cancer. But one common issue that most smokers overlook is its impact on others. This is known as second-hand smoke, the smoke produced from a cigarette or the smoke exhaled by a smoker. Second-hand smoke is a silent killer.

According to the Center for Disease Control, one in every four Americans that doesn't smoke is exposed to second-hand smoke. Also, two in every five children are exposed, that's about 13 students in this classroom alone. Though it may not seem like much, over the past 50 years, 2.5 million people have died due to ingesting second-hand smoke.

Some people believe that it doesn’t matter if people breathe in this harmful substance. But I know that this smoke is extremely dangerous to us. Second-hand smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals including about 70 that can cause cancer. Some of the many other health issues caused by this smoke are strokes, respiratory infections, heart disease, and lung cancer.

For most Americans, second-hand smoke is inevitable, as many smokers decide to smoke near building entrances and other common public areas. This is absolutely not healthy for anybody to be exposed to. The scary part about second-hand smoke is the fact that there is no way to be exposed to it “risk-free”. Even the smallest amounts can be harmful to our health. The amount of nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke has decreased over the years, which is great. I think it is still necessary to continue decreasing the level until it has reached the absolute minimum.

Banning public smoking would more than likely cause a decrease in exposure to second-hand smoke. This would mean that fewer non-smokers would be forced to ingest it. By doing so, we could make a safer environment for people as a whole.

Smoking not only has its effects on people, but also on the environment. I am fairly certain that every person in this room has seen a cigarette butt lying somewhere, at some point in their lives. Whether it’s on the curb of a neighborhood street, on the sandy beach, or in your favorite park, this litter can be found just about anywhere. Most smokers don’t even believe that a cigarette butt is actually litter, but trust me, it is.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines litter as a piece of trash that is lying on the ground in a public place. So this definition fits a cigarette butt perfectly, right? Is a cigarette butt trash? Yes, as it is no longer useful to the smoker. Well then, isn’t it laying in a public space? Yes, it is. So, I ask, why don’t smokers find this to be litter?

Most cigarettes have a filter containing cellulose acetate, a non-biodegradable substance. A typical cigarette can take around 25 years to completely decompose. Even though the number of littered cigarettes is indefinite, the number is between the high billions and mid trillions. This number should not be so high, and this number could and should be greatly reduced.

Besides the fact that it brings down property value, and is an eyesore, this litter is also harmful to other animals. Studies have been conducted that prove that the toxic chemicals from a littered cigarette butt can be lethal to many small animals and microorganisms, such as Daphnia.

If we prohibit smoking in most public places, the number of littered cigarette butts will probably decrease, increasing property values and the general pleasantness of public spaces, as well as benefit our environment.

Some people believe that prohibiting smoking in public is taking away their rights. Yet, in reality, this is actually taking away the basic right of breathing clean, healthy air to the people surrounding them. This is because smoking causes the air to be potentially hazardous to those who breathe it in. Thus smoking needs to be banned in public places, as it is only fair to the nonsmokers.

Smoking is like yelling fire in a crowded theater. Though by law you can speak what you want, you cannot and should not cause unnecessary worry and danger to others. Smoking in public places causes this unnecessary danger to others, as it can expose us to second-hand smoke.

I personally think that breathing clean, pure air should be a basic right for any human being. Allowing public smoking is taking away that right, and making the air we breath in daily possibly harmful to our well-being. We must recognize that humans have the right to not be involuntarily exposed to these carcinogenic substances.

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