Essay 1
Laws against public smoking are necessary to protect nonsmokers from the lethal fumes that are found in cigarettes. Throughout this essay we will be examining the statistical information on smoking and the effects that it has on nonsmokers. All factual information in this essay applies to both smokers and nonsmokers. There will also be mention of certain inadequate means by which many individuals attempt to protect others from secondhand smoke and specific roles that the law must play in order to effectively protect nonsmokers once the law has been established.
What makes cigarette smoke so dangerous? It is the chemical content of the cigarette
which is so lethal to humans and to most other life, Among the many chemicals found in cigarettes, here are a few of the more harmful and toxic kind. Some of which are as dangerous as cyanide and 4-aminobiphenyl which have been banned from the work place because of highly unhealthy characteristics*. Benzene on the other hand has characteristics found in long-term exposure that have been proven to contribute to the cause of leukemia and is also believed to lower the human immune system against vicious cancerous tumors. Carbon monoxide found in cigarettes damages red blood cells, which are normally flowing productively throughout the entire human circulatory system. This system is abruptly disrupted within smokers by approximately 14 percent on average. For instance that's enough to make smokers lose their breath just after climbing up a flight of stairs. Why dose thas happened? Will this occurs because red blood cells that regularly transport oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the body's tissues become damaged. When exposed to carbon monoxide it bonds to the hemoglobin molecules that are found in red blood cells, rendering them useless or unable to transport oxygen properly. Other chemicals include, formaldehyde, oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen, which are also found in cigarettes most of which are carcinogenic (canser inducing). Though only a small quantity of such highly toxic chemicals are found in one cigarette, there is undoubtedly an element of accumulation, given that the average smoker smokes an average of two packs a today or more, multiply this by the millions of people who smoke and then these chemicals become much too common in the air.
Considering that the secondhand smoke recipient(s) are receiving exactly the same smoke that the smoker is inhaling. Subsequently making the nonsmoker susceptible to the same kind of conditions that a smoker would suffer from. These conditions range from increased asthma symptoms, increase in heart rate and damage to heart muscle, damage to the immune system, bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, throat cancer, heart disease, lung damage a loss of fitness and circulatory problems just to name a few.
Moreover attempting to dissipate this toxic air by means of opening a window in another room, having air purifiers or ventilation systems can't protect you adequately from second-hand smoke. There really is no safe level of exposure to this kind of smoke and subsequently there are a little over 3000 deaths per year in Canada which are caused by such exposure. There is no real definitive standard to indicate what amount of smoke affects an idividual*. Over one in ten of these people die from lung cancer. Most of the others die from heart disease and stroke. In addition many have also found it difficult to avoid cigarette smoke within public areas. Now they must find a way out of such a conundrum*. The most productive solution to the problem would be to enforce a law that no man or woman may smoke within any public space, and must therefore only smoke in designated safe smoking areas or at their place of residency.
Laws against public smoking are necessary to protect nonsmokers from lethal fumes that are found in cigarettes. When laws are implemented they must be enforced with solidarity. Therefore the law cannot work until the established community follows the rules completely and properly, with the desired rules and regulations according to the law's exact specifications. Until this takes place the full and entire benefit of the law will not have been achieved by the community in question. At any rate there will consequently still be thousands of deaths each year due to this silent killer of chemical combinations. And a detrimental denial of a seemingly simple freedom; that of the right to breathe clean air.
posted by gabbo @
12:52 PM
|
10/11/2003  |
Essay
