Smoking Should be Banned

Avie Wilbur
English 1301
Professor Kitchens
November 11, 2010
Smoking Should be Banned
Cigarette smoking has been associated more with the negative effects it causes than its benefits. Actually, it is the cause of cancer which is responsible for many deaths all over the world. Smoking has received condemnation from many quarters of the society all over the world. In line with this condemnation, I am of the view that smoking should definitely be banned due to the disastrous social and economic effects it subjects to man, together with environmental degradation resulting from cigarette emissions (Rothestein 11).
Smoking is associated with elements of risk-taking and rebellion, which habitually appeal to young people. The existence of prominent models and peers influence smoking among the teenagers. Since young people are inclined more to their peers than to adults, efforts by health professionals, parents and schools at preventing them from trying cigarettes are unsuccessful.
Smoking leads to addiction by users whereby one is not able to stay without it. Since they become dependent on smoking, and well aware of the negative effects of smoking, the cigarette users may tend to develop some convincing words to try and justify their smoking habits. For instance, a smoker would argue that death occur everywhere, anytime, and can occur to anyone, whether a smoker or non smoker. Similarly, they may argue that smoking helps relieve stress, by its depressant effect that calms their nerves and hence help foster concentration.
There are a number of harmful effects of smoking to the cigarette users: disastrous effects range from heart disease, lung cancer and bronchitis which are all as a result of smoking. The act of smoking has contributed to poverty due to smokers spending their meager finances to cater for their daily cigarette provision.
Smoking leads most frequently to diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a key risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and cancer (particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancer). Tobacco use increases the threat of Crohn's infection as well as the severity of the course of the disease. It is also the leading cause of bladder cancer. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and the key cause of premature death worldwide” (Rothestein 1).
The World Health Organization has observed that much of the disease burden and premature mortality attributable to tobacco use disproportionately affects the poor. Of the 1.22 billion smokers, 1 billion of them live in developing or transitional economies (Harold 7). Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in the developed world. In the developing world, however, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year as of 2002. The World Health Organization in 2004 projected 58.8 million deaths to occur globally, from which 5.4 million were tobacco-attributed, and 4.9 million as of 2007. As of 200...