Nijjar 2
Smoking not only harms the smoker, but also those around them. For years it had been thought that smoking only affected smokers and non-smokers were not at risk at all, but after years of research it has been found that second-hand smoke from cigarettes causes much harm to non-smokers. Now after years of study, it is known that in America, someone is more likely to die from second-hand smoke than by a car, gun or AID’s. Cigarette smoke causes cancer, heart disease and it causes many respiratory diseases (). More than two thousand people die daily in America alone from cigarette smoke and almost half a million yearly die from cigarette smoke (). Thousands and thousands of people die from second-hand smoke every year and many smokers don’t realize the harm that they are doing to their friends, family and people that they don’t even know until it is too late. Many children of adults who smoke shall grow up to have cancer or lung disease (). Children of mothers who smoked while they were pregnant will have cancer, lung disease or some type of respiratory disease when they are born (). Many children and adults have breathing problems such as asthma and when they go out to eat dinner with their families in a restaurant, they suffer from attacks. To them, smoking around them is like choking them; eventually the air is going to run out. Today, smoking kills more Americans than AID’s, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, illegal drugs and fires combined (). Even though there are many different statistics on the effects of smoking and second-smoke and the harm they can do, there are still many different opinions on the subject.
Nijjar 3
There are many opposing viewpoints on banning smoking in public places. Many people (mostly non-smokers) argue that banning smoking in public places will keep non-smokers healthy, including waiters/waitresses and bartenders. Others argue that by banning smoking in public places, the government is imposing on their freedom. A counter argument to that is that by smoking in public places, smokers are putting the lives of those around them (including other smokers) at risk, which is against the Canadian Charter of Rights. Many veteran’s feel that they should be allowed to smoke because being allowed to smoke in bars is one of the many things that they were fighting for (freedom) in both world wars. The London municipal government agrees and that is one of the reasons why the Iron Duke, a popular pub among veteran’s located at Parkwood hospital, has been exempted from the July 1, 2003 smoking ban in London (Egan). Many restaurant and bar owners think that banning smoking in bars and restaurants will decrease business, but a counter argument to this is that only twenty percent of the city’s population are smokers and when the smoking ban is in place that other eighty percent will go out to bars and restaurants and that will dramatically increase business. There are many different opposing arguments to banning smoking, and the debate will probably never end.
Smoking should be banned in public places because, even though some think it will impose on their freedom, smoking is full of harmful substances and people should be able to go out to bars and restaurants without the fear of having an asthma attack or getting lung disease. Everyone should have the freedom to live and breathe freely.
