Persuasive Speech

Specific purpose: to persuade the audience that secondhand smoke is harmful. Claim: Smoking should be banned from all public locations such as schools and hospitals, because of its danger to others. Do you know someone who smokes or do you smoke? Have you ever smoked in front of another person before or even worse a child? My interest in secondhand smoke arose when i was younger and my dad smoked. I was about 8 or 9 years old, however I lost interest until last semester when I researched a paper for English and discovered that secondhand smoke can be very deadly. Secondhand smoke is also known as environmental tobacco smoke. SHS “contains 250 toxic chemicals, including more than 50 that can cause cancer” (CDC). These chemicals include “arsenic, benzene, nickel, vinyl chloride (substance used on plastics)” (NCI). Health effects also arise from secondhand smoke. For children who are exposed it puts them at greater risk for such things as, Sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, middle ear infections and residuary problems. According to the Center for Disease Control exposure to
secondhand smoke in children 18 months or younger result in “7,500-15,000 hospitalizations annually and 150,000-300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year”(CDC). Another effect of secondhand smoke is cavities in both permanent and baby teeth. According to the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality “young children who are exposed to secondhand smoke have a much higher rate of tooth decay than children who do not grow up around smokers”(AHRQ). This study also stated that “4,000 children ages 4-11 years, the study found that children had an increased risk of tooth decay if they had high levels of cotinine, a by-product of nicotine that is consistent with secondhand smoke exposure” (AHRQ). Some health effects in adults include such things like heart disease and lung cancer. According to the CDC “breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the cardiovascular system that can increase the risk for heart attack. People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk” (CDC). They also state that “Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25–30%.” And “Secondhand smoke exposure causes an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States.5” (CDC). The risk for lung cancer from secondhand smoke is greater according to the CDC “Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their lung cancer risk by 20–30%.. Secondhand smoke exposure causes an estimated 3,400 lung cancer deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States” (CDC). Now that we are aware of the effects secondhand smokes has on the non-smoker, my hopes are that I can convince people who smoke to do so in an environment that will not effect the person who walks by, or the people that ride in cars with them.
I walk around campus a lot and I see signs everywhere saying no smoking 500ft form doorways, but people still do it and as a student walking by and inhaling the smoke everyday is not good. I feel like the schools and other public settings where others are involved should put a ban on smoking. I believe that for a smoker the choice is theirs and I shouldn’t have to suffer with them by just merely walking by. Secondhand smoke is clearly a threat to both non smoking adults and children, so I hope we can take more actions to protect them. I also hope this speech will make smokers more aware of their surroundings and who they will be
affecting. Works Cited Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. U.S Department of Health and Human Services.3 March 2003. 19 April 2010. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2003/toothpr.htm . Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 20 Jan. 2010. 19 April 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/secondhand_smoke/ . National Cancer Institute. 10 Mar 2010. U.S National Institute of Health. 19 April 2010. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/ETS .