Cigarette Smoking Analysis Essay

Editorial Essay
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Editorial Essay
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoking claims approximately 480,000 lives each year in the U.S alone, which represents about 20 percent of the total number of deaths per year. Additional statistical research further indicates that the deaths caused by firearm-related incidences, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents; HIV, and illegal drug use combined are less than that which is caused by cigarette smoking alone. Therefore, the government should prohibit cigarette smoking in all learning centers because of its associated environmental and health impacts.
Cigarette smoking has severe impacts on the environment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2015), post-consumption wastes of tobacco such as cigarette butts which are one of the most frequently discarded scraps in the world are the most common wastes that liter water edges and beaches globally. Additionally, non-biodegradable fiber acetate butts form a good percentage of the effluent that most cigarette-manufacturing companies discard every year. Some companies dump millions and trillions of such butt wastes, which together sum up to hundreds of thousands of tons of non-biodegradable wastes (Mathers, and Loncar). Further research by the WHO indicates that hazardous substances such as ethyl phenol, nicotine, lead, and arsenic are the essential constituents of cigarette butts. More often than not, these substances leach into the soil and aquatic environment from the discarded cigarette butt wastes. In effect, these leachates which majorly comprise of ethyl phenol, nicotine, lead, and arsenic may affect the quality of water which in return, goes a long way to impacting the lives of aquatic creatures.
Besides, batteries which power electronic cigarettes require such components as unique packaging materials, chemicals, disposal, among other non-biodegradable constituents. The constituent elements have proven to be dangerous environmental contaminants with an inherent capacity to harm the environment and human health through bioaccumulation via the food-chain (Riquinho DL, and Hennington EA., 2012). In effect, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the United States is keen on the absence of product policy that governs the components of electronic cigarettes.
Allowing smoking learning institutes such as colleges and universities where a multitude of learners from different parts of the world assemble creates a favorable breeding ground that lures and enhances large-scale smoking which in effect increases the rate of producing the waste products of tobacco (Mathers, and Loncar, ). In return, this augments the risk that results from discarding ethyl phenol, nicotine, lead, and arsenic products in the environment. Banning of tobacco may have irreversible consequences to serial smokers because of the presence of nicotine, which causes addiction. However, addiction per se is not a reason enough to allow smoking in learning centers and public (Riquinho DL, and Hennington EA., 2012). Therefore, colleges and universities need to develop and implement stringent policies which curb reckless and irresponsible smoking within their environs to prevent the occurrence of the potential effects of the vice to the environment.
Secondly, tobacco smoking leads to the emission of carbon dioxide gas directly into the environment. According to Tobacco and the Environment Fact Sheet (2015), smoking of cigarette emits approximately 5,200,000 tons and 2,600,000 tons of methane and carbon dioxide respectively per year. According to data gathered from 66 countries, both developed and third-world, curing and growing of tobacco formed to a substantial cause of deforestation which resulted to an estimated 2000 hectares that were deforestation between 1990 and 1995 (Riquinho DL, and Hennington EA., 2012). Further research indicates that of the 13,000,000 hectares that are deforested annually because of natural causes and agriculture, approximately 200,000 hectares are designated for curing and for growing of tobacco. Deforestation, in return, causes the production of greenhouse gases, which in effect lead to global warming.
Allowing smoking in public places and in learning institutions significantly augments the amount of carbon dioxide gas emitted in the environment. Accumulation of carbon dioxide gas in the background beyond reasonable levels is dangerous because it tampers with the ozone layer. It also causes air pollution, which in effect, forms a blanket on plants’ stoma hence preventing respiration. Cigarette smoking is the prime cause of accidental fires which consume forests, institutions, and homes when the butts are thrown away carelessly (WHO, 2015). This is a risk factor which necessitates the need to abolish smoking in schools and the public spaces.
Cigarette smoking does more harm than good to the health of both the active and the passive smoker. According to Judith Marcin (2017, Para.1), all substances in tobacco products such as carbon monoxide, nicotine, tar, and acetone are not safe for human consumption. The researcher further maintains that smoking does not only predispose the smoker to immediate effects, but it also makes them vulnerable to an array of risks over several years. In her research, Judith claims that cigarettes are made up of approximately 600 ingredients which, upon combustion, generate more than seven hundred chemical substances that are toxic to humans both directly or indirectly (Novotny,...