Please enjoy my argument essay on "Why The Government Should Ban Cigarettes". Americans everywhere today are participating in the use and sale of cigarettes. “Approximately 28% of all men and 22% of all women are current cigarette smokers.” (smoking, 2004). While cigarettes seem to help some people, they can actually lead to death, since “Cigarette smoking has been associated with disease, disability, and death. According to recent estimates, one of every five deaths in the United States is smoking related.” (smoking, 2004).
Attention Getter: A shocking statistic: Did you know that smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and premature death in America? In 2012, about 577,190 Americans are expected to die of cancer,more than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the US, exceeded only by heart disease,accounting for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths. (American Cancer Society) B. Thesis Statement: Breaking the habit of smoking is the right way to go because smoking is not only harmful for you but it is also harmful to the people around you. II.
BA 6 Passage 1: Smoke is linked with cancer, heart disease, and respiratory illness, and is the leading source of indoor air pollution. In the United States at least 53,000 non-smokers died from being exposed to second hand smoke. Second hand smoke is a poisonous mixture of 7000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and at least sixty-nine that cause cancer. In August 2001, 234 United State communities required all workplaces to be completely smoke-free. Source: Fichtenberg, Caroline M., and Stanton A. Glantz.
Around 50,000 people per year die from secondhand smoke. If the production and sale of cigarettes alone were banned, then hundreds of thousands of lives would be prolonged and saved; approximately 450,000 lives per year (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids). Smoking is the number one cause of death due to lung cancer, emphysema, and other life-threatening diseases (ALA). If the cause of disease and cancer was completely eliminated from the United States, then the problem would be solved. If tobacco was eliminated people’s outer appearances would also improve.
It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce trances and spiritual enlightenment. It is estimated that there are more than 43 million adults who currently smoke in the United States, Including our president, Barack Obama, of that 43 million 53% are men and 47% are women. That is really quite astounding even with all of the knowledge know as to the harm that cigarettes can cause. These statistics just go to show how powerful of a hold it has over people. Diseases caused by smoking kill 1 in 10 adults in the world.
The Adventures of Joe Camel and the Killer Clown In America 400,000 people die a year due to obesity, this is the second leading cause of death only behind smoking. This statistic explains why fast food is such a thriving business. In this case fast food is guilty of making Americans fat, lazy, and not to mention killing us. Although tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in America, it is actually dropping year to year, whereas obesity is on the rise and will soon be the leading cause. In my argument I will compare and contrast tobacco and fast food and I will show how tobacco has changed affectively and how fast food needs to do the same.
Cigarette sales would drop to zero overnight if the warning said “CIGARETTES CONTAIN FAT”. But as we all know, research has proven that cigarette smoke contains many chemicals that are more harmful than fat to our body but even so there has been a rapid increase of the sales of tobacco. A part from this, research has also proven that cigarette smoke could be beneficial to the prevention of certain illness and diseases to certain individual. A cigarette, just like any other tobacco products contains nicotine, a psychoactive chemical that is highly addictive and is also the main cause of tobacco addiction. The US government has approved 599 additives that are present inside a cigarette.
Affects of secondhand smoke includes: heart disease, cancer, and asthma. “Each year in the United States alone, it is responsible for: an estimated 46,000 deaths from heart disease in people who are current nonsmokers, about 3,400 nonsmoking adults die of lung cancer as a result of breathing secondhand smoke, and worse asthma or asthma related problems in up to 1 million asthmatic children” (American Cancer Society, 2011, para. 11). Most smokers do not realize how much their smoking affects those around them, until they lose someone close to them from secondhand smoke or if you have children that stay sick due to smoke. There are a lot of bad chemicals in cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer, with nearly 90% of patients dying within 2 years of diagnosis, in large part because it tends to be diagnosed late (Gulyn and Youssef, 2010). Signs and Symptoms Initial presentation of lung cancer, regardless of gender, tend to be nonspecific, as a chronic or new cough in 65% to 75% of cases, with 25% or more having a productive cough (Yoder, 2006). Since lung cancer often occurs in central airways it can also present as pneumonia and lymph enlargement; hemoptysis will occur in 20% to 30% of patients. Other symptoms include dyspnea , with 60% of patients developing it early and 65% developing it at some time during their illness (Yoder, 2006). About 50% of patients present initially with chest pain (Yoder, 2006).
In addition, more than three million people die every year worldwide from smoking related diseases (Pringle 44). Besides the transience statistics are the millions of additional colds, canker sores, cases of chronic bronchitis and dental issues that are related to the use of tobacco products. Tobacco use doesn’t just burden an individual’s health, put also places quite a financial burden on their bank account. Smoking even a half of a pack per day will cost the average individual upwards of two thousand dollars a year if the smoker uses one of the most popular brands, Camel or Marlboro, as most young smokers do. Add to that national annual health care costs and lost work revenues totaling seventy billion dollars, damages from the 38% of accidental fires attributed to