Banning of Cigarette Smoking

Introduction

The paper focuses upon the places where the smoking should be banned and why it should be banned in those areas. However, then emphasize is on the consequences of smoking cigarette and how it effects the people. Moreover, finding the expense associated with smoking is another problem. Furthermore, the environmental hazards that cigarette have are extremely dangerous.

There have been several places which enacted smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants, bars, or some combination thereof. Local smoking bans have also exploded in popularity during that time. Observers predict that most of the 28 states currently without statewide smoking bans will likely adopt antismoking measures in the next five to 10 years. Some observers have even predicted that all of them will (Bjartveit, & Tverdal, 315-320).

Other observers say that a federal ban on smoking in workplaces, bars and restaurants is not out of the question. National smoking bans have proven to be popular in recent years; roughly three dozen countries around the world have banned or partially restricted smoking in indoor areas as well as in certain outdoor public spaces. Those countries include France, Denmark and Britain. The Hong Kong region of China has also restricted smoking (Tang, et, al. 611-617).

Opponents of smoking bans, for their part, say they will continue to resist the bans and protest legislation imposing them. Many of those opponents contend that a large part of nightlife's romantic mystique has been drained by smoking bans; people can no longer meet each other in dark, smoky bars because fewer and fewer areas of the country permit smoking in bars. Supporters, however, say that one of the benefits of smoking bans is to eliminate that mystique entirely. Smoking-ban advocates say that the bans help to shift people's focus from the romance of smoky bars to the reality of smoke-damaged lungs (Rather, 7).

Discussion

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency, 44.5 million Americans are cigarette smokers--approximately one-fifth of the population. Tobacco use has declined in popularity since its mid-20th-century heyday, but tobacco remains one of the most addictive substances legally available to Americans. Each day, the CDC reports, about 1,500 people under the age of 18 begin to smoke on a daily basis (Rather, 7).

People continue to take up smoking despite clear evidence that inhaling tobacco is harmful. A 1964 surgeon general's report confirmed long-held suspicions that smoking cigarettes is dangerous. Later, health organizations presented evidence that secondhand smoke--smoke inhaled by nonsmokers in the vicinity of smokers--is a health threat as well. When Pelosi announced her decision to ban smoking in the Speaker's Lobby, she cited the negative health effects of secondhand smoke as the primary reason for doing so (Bjartveit, & Tverdal, 315-320).

Smoking bans have become increasingly popular in workplaces, restaurants and even bars throughout the 2000s. Many restaurants that formerly had both smoking and nonsmoking sections are now entirely smoke-free; many office buildings that once had smoking lounges for workers now require those employees to step outside for a cigarette break (Rather, ...