Banning Smoking in Public Places

For most of my life, I 've been a second-hand smoker. My parents both smoke and though they try to keep from partaking in their bad habit around my younger sister and I, sometimes it 's unavoidable. Through the years I 've watched as their smoking has caused them yellow teeth, weight gain, irritability, and extreme coughing. There have been numerous efforts on my part to persuade them to give up their addiction, including taking all their cigarettes and refusing to give them back, as well as adding up the total amount of money they would save if they didn 't waste it on their nicotine craving. Because I have had to deal with watching their lives slowly slip away, I strongly think smoking should be banned in public places---why should people who choose to stay clear from a bad habit be forced to be around it?
Take secondhand smoke for example. Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is the toxic smoke containing 60 carcinogens, or cancer causing substances (McMillan). It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers and can cause a wide range of health problems including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma. As someone who suffers from asthma, the excess amount of smoke inhaled in restaurants and other public attractions causes my chest to tighten up and breathing to become difficult. Smokers would argue that it is their right to smoke where ever they please or that in a restaurant with separate sections, everyone wins. However, that is not true. Only smoke free locations truly protect nonsmokers from the smoke hazards (Report: Ban Smoking in Public Places). According to The American Lung Association, levels of ETS in restaurants and bars were found to be 2 to 5 times higher than in residences with smokers and 2 to 6 times higher than in office workplaces. Restaurants are public locations and those who have current health problems should be able to enjoy an evening out without “hacking up a storm” because of the person smoking a few tables away.
Not only is secondhand smoke a negative effect for nonsmokers, but smoking in itself dangers an estimated 438,000 American lives each year. Many health effects such as lung cancer, heart disease and strokes are all a result of long-time smoking. Less serious effects include yellow teeth, bad breath and breathing difficulty when exercising. Though smoking has terrible effects, it also helps the obesity problem in the US, which is a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, and strokes (Tobacco and Smoking). Lung cancer is the largest category of cancerous deaths in the US and of those, 90% of them are due to smoking, making smoking more dangerous rather than helpful (McMillan). Both the serious and less serious effects of nicotine intake can be avoided by quitting their addiction. Quitting smoking is a hard task to complete, but it can be done with effort and there are even products available, such as nicotine patches, gum, and lozenges to help relieve nicotine withdrawal symptoms people may experience. In my opinion, if there are ways to get over an addiction that will ultimately lengthen people lives, what is there to lose?
Smoking does not stop at being negative for people: it also affects the land we live on the water that we drink, and the air we breathe. The chemicals in the smoke exhaled from cigarettes pollute the already polluted air. Many cigarette butts are discarded onto the ground daily, and end up in rivers and lakes. There, the fish and animals consume them and the rest are left on the ground to disintegrate. The process takes up to 25 years; 25 years of the chemicals in cigarettes getting into the ground, polluting the soil and the plants we consume.
Eliminating smoking in public locations will assist both smokers and nonsmokers. Nonsmokers will be able to go where they please, without the worry of breathing in toxic smoke that is harmful to their health. The smokers will have an easier time quitting their habit because they will only be able to smoke at their own house. If smoking was banned in all public areas, I think it would save a lot of lives and better those who choose to make the right decision.

Citations:
American Lung Association 2007 19 FEB 2008 <http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=22542>.
McMillan , Daniel . Teen Smoking: Understanding The Risk. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1998.
"Report: Ban Smoking in Public Places." Associated Press 27 Jun 2006 13 Mar 2008 <www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13569976>.
Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press , 1998.

Citations: American Lung Association 2007 19 FEB 2008 <http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=22542>. McMillan , Daniel . Teen Smoking: Understanding The Risk. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1998. "Report: Ban Smoking in Public Places." Associated Press 27 Jun 2006 13 Mar 2008 <www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13569976>. Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press , 1998.