Cigarette Smoking In Public Places

xxxxxxxxx 1 xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx 2009 Cigarette Smoking in Public Places The effects of tobacco smoke on non-smokers were little known about 20 years ago. People were not aware of the adverse effects on non-smokers who are living and working in smoke-filled environments. In the course of years, a vast body of scientific evidence has proven that passive smoking can badly affect the health of non-smokers. Passive smoking is actually breathing other people's smoke and it is also known as secondhand smoke. Not only is cigarette smoke dangerous for smokers, but also for people in their presence. Non-smokers can also be influenced by breathing in tobacco smoke at work, in bars, restaurants, hospitals, on buses, and other environments filled with tobacco smoke. Due to the side effects of passive smoking on nonsmokers, cigarette smoking in public places should be banned. Secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a combination of two different types of smoke: the first is called mainstream smoke, the smoke which is breathed in by the smoker, inhaled and then exhaled. The second is sidestream smoke, which is released into the air from the burning end of a cigarette. "The constituents of mainstream and sidestream smoke are similar but their concentrations differ, in general being higher in sidestream smoke. The great majority of SHS consist of sidestream smoke" (Barron 8). . In the past, smokers were not familiar with the fact that thetobacco smoke they exhale is also poisonous for people around them. But today, scientists have concluded that many illnesses are connected with tobacco smoke. Anybody exposed to sidestream smoke has an increased

xxxxxxxxx 2 probability of lung and coronary heart disorder, breast cancer, stroke, asthma or worsening of asthma, respiratory symptoms, iritation of the eyes and nose. Children are specially prone to the health effects of smoke, causing middle ear infections, increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, bronchitis, pneumonia, coughing, wheezing. Smoking in the near presence of pregnant woman can hurt the unborn baby; there is an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome and larger chance of having a lower birthweight (Haustein 224). For too long, society has had an affection for smoking considering it as an innocent bad habit, but it is time for it to be considered as a social threat, jeopardizing the health of the addict, his family, and acquaintances. If public presentation of the habit is socially-unacceptable behaviour, the position of the smoker will swiftly shrink (Shephard 11). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once wrote that "smokers pollute the air far and wide and asphyxiate every respectable individual who cannot smoke in self-defence. Who can enter the room of a smoker without feeling nausea?" (qtd. in Shephard 9). What we could do to stop the excessive use of tobacco? First of all, governments should increase taxes on tobacco products. This would probably have an influence on people to quit or not to start smoking at all, especially on young people who often have low income. However, many governments are unwilling to act to reduce tobacco use, because they are worried that the enforcement of stricter laws of tobacco use could harm the economy, by decreasing the economical benefit of growing, producing, selling, and taxing tobacco. Are governments' fears verified by the facts? In fact, these worries are mostly unsupported. A group of 30 well-known international experts analyzed currently available data and came to conclusion that tobacco control would not cause the loss of jobs, it would actually generate new jobs. "Tax increases would increase (not decrease) total tax revenues, even if cigarette smuggling increased to some extent" (Djutaharta et al. 7).

xxxxxxxxx 3 On the other hand, the best way to protect non-smokers from the dangers of secondhand smoke is to ban smoking in public places. Unfortunately, it is not an easy task to execute. The government would have to decide what public places will actually be smoke-free, the decision which should depend on the recommendations of people. There is a possibility of adding separate areas for smokers and non-smokers; separate smoking and non-smoking areas are common in bars and restaurants. Installation of ventilation can improve air quality and provides a more comfortable environment; it is often used in tandem with separate smoking and non-smoking areas. Nevertheless, "the BMA [the British Medical Association] has concluded that ventilation does not provide effective protection against the health hazards of passive smoking" (Smoking in public places 3). It is no excuse anymore for smokers to pollute the air which is also breathed in by nonsmokers. Smokers have to know that they damage their health, and the health of others. Passive smoking has been proven as a cause of many diseases: lung cancer, hearth stroke, breast cancer, asthma. For the sake of our children, smokers have to be more thoughtful since children are especially vulnerable to the health hazards of secondhand smoke. Smokers should acknowledge that their habit is not as innocent as they think; smoking habit has to be counted as a social menace.Citizens have a duty to pressure the government to adopt the regulation of firmer tobacco use in public. Going smoke-free in public places is the only sure way of protecting non-smokers.

Works Cited Barron, Kevin. Smoking in Public Places: First Report of Session 2005-06. Great Britain: The Stationery Office, 2005. Print Haustein, Knut-Olaf. Tobacco or health? Springer, 2003. Print Shephard, Roy J. The risks of passive smoking. Taylor & Francis, 1982. Print Smoking in public places, POST, 2003. Web

xxxxxxxxx 4 Triasih Djutaharta, Abdillah Ahsan, Tata Tachman, Hendratno and Elizabeth Gilpin. The Impact of Passive Smoking at Home on Respiratory Diseases: Results from the Indonesia 2001 National Survey Data. Health, Nutrition and Population, 2005. Web