New
York was the first state to enforce the nonsmoking law in public places.
Eleven other states followed
and made smoking in public against the law. Efforts to ban
smoking developed in the 1990s. John F.
Banzhaf, an attorney who teaches public
interest law at George Washington Law School,
says that smoking bans are widely seen
as a way to safeguard the health on
nonsmokers. The American public has changed its
attitude toward smoking;
thirty-nine percent of the public now live in states with anti-
smoking laws. Anti-smoking
laws are not made to force those who smoke to stop, but to
reduce some of the pollution
on earth. It is not only against the law in some states to
smoke in public places, such
as indoor restaurants, and bars; it is not allowed on
domestic U.S. flights either.
In the 1990s researched revealed that
secondhand smoke not only was annoying to
nonsmokers, but actually causative
to their deaths of lung cancer. Secondhand smoke is
toxic for nonsmokers. It can kill and affect
the public’s health. According to Richard
Carmona, a physician, Surgeon
General of the United States from 2002 to 2006,
exposure to this particular kind of smoke is a
very staid threat towards the peoples’
health. Secondhand smoke can
cause lung cancer, affect your heart, respiratory system
and cause premature aging.
Evidence has concluded that secondhand smoke is a known
human carcinogen and exposure
to it causes opposing effects on the body.
Hearts can be damaged if exposed for a
short period of time, which can lead to
cardiovascular disease. Nonsmokers have a 50
percent risk of developing this disease
than active smokers. More of
people’s attitudes have changed since the bans. Social
moms supported the anti-smoking
law, which lead to a widespread of supporters over
the past 30 years. Smoking
should be banned in homes everywhere because children
are being exposed. Nevertheless, it would be
impossible to enter into someone’s home
and make it a law to tell
them what to do in their own home.
In January, the year of 2006 the
California Air Resources Board declared outdoor
tobacco smoke as a toxic air contaminant. The
city of Calabasas, California passed an
ordinance that bans smoking almost everywhere
outdoors. Smoking bans send a huge
message, converting those who
smoke to think about quitting and influences young
teens to steer away. Banzhaf
said that within the next few years the majority of the U.S.
“will be smoke-free indoors, “, with one or
two states that may ban outdoor smoking
completely. Popular influence and pressure on
local cities and state government to
enforce smoking bans are a
major factor towards achieving the goal of a smoke free
society. The bans make it very inconvenient
for the smoker; on the other hand it
reminds them to be respectful and to think
about the health of others.
A growing number of communities,
countries, and states are requiring a smoke free
environment for all public
places, including all private worksites, restaurants, bars and
even casinos. These are just a few of the
states that ban smoking, Michigan, Idaho,
North and South Dakota,
Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Jersey,
Delaware, Pennsylvania,
Illinois, Hawaii, Utah and many others. States with bans are
known as the green states for their fight to
make the environment smoke free and to
protect our health. Cigarette
smoking has numerous effects on a smoker and
nonsmoker. Secondhand smoke
not only affects your heart and lungs, it affects your
whole body. The carbon monoxide that resides
in the tobacco smoke has been
associated with hardening of the arteries,
which can cause a blood clot to the brain and
lead to a stroke.
Smoking
or being exposed to cigarette smoke increases your chances of cancer, heart
attack, chronic bronchitis,
emphysema, yellowing of the teeth, premature aging,
difficult sleeping, sore throat, higher fractures
of bones, bad breath, and causes you to
have smelly hair and skin. All states should
ban smoking in public places because it is
very harmful to those who are
involuntary expose to it. The chemicals
in cigarettes
contaminate the air and our bodies. The laws
of smoking are not strict enough to
improve our society for me. Sure, there are
many other things that put people in
danger that causes them to
get sick. A person who is an alcoholic may sometimes drink
in front of you, but there’s no danger of
being exposed to the alcohol, they are harming
themselves. However, a person
who smokes inhales and blows out harmful toxins that
can harm tons of people. Hopefully
smoking bans will eventually mark every single state
to protect nonsmokers and
heavily invade the minds of smokers to slow down or at
least quit.
Stop Smoking Now! If Not For You Then For Your Family
Cited Sources: Carmona, Richard. "Secondhand Smoke Is a
Serious Problem." Tobacco and Smoking. Ed. Karen F. Balkin. San
Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004
Kaufman, Stephen. "Most
Americans Believe Smoking Should Be Banned in Public Places." Tobacco
and Smoking. Ed. Karen F. Balkin. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004
