Smoking in public places should be banned - Essay Example

Thus, they become passive smokers. This argumentative paper tends to persuade the reader that smoking in public should be banned by throwing light upon the hazards of passive smoking. Just like active smokers are apt to acquire many diseases, same is the case with passive smokers especially those who are actually living with the smokers. When in public, smoking does not only irritate others but tends to impart many illnesses to those around like sore eyes, sore throat causing smoker’s cough, nausea, headache, and trouble to people with asthma.

This is not fair to the non-smokers because they are inhaling smoke and impure air for no reason of their own. This smoke is of two types: side-stream smoke and mainstream smoke. Side-stream smoke is one which rises from the tip of the cigarette while mainstream smoke is that which the smoker exhales. There are around 4000 toxic chemicals and gases present in both types of smoke which when inhaled by others in public cause many illnesses. “Non-smokers can get affected by breathing in cigarette smoke at home, at work, in bars and other smoky environments outside the home…About 2.

2 million people in UK are exposed to passive smoking in their places of work”, states Gardezi (2005, p.30). . Those children are at increased risk of SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome; lung infections such as pneumonia; ear infections; and more severe asthma.” The 2006 U.S. Surgeon General’s report also states that second hand smoke is a major cause of sudden death in children and chances of SIDS is greater for children who are exposed to second hand smoke either at homes or in public (American Cancer Society, Inc., 2010). This is because some children are born with weak immune system while in others the immune system may become weakened due to diseases, infections and medications, states Young (2009, p.32). Toxic gases in the polluted air weigh heavily on the poor immune systems of young kids thus making them ill quite rapidly.

Another hazard connected to public smoking is that it tends to inspire other immature minds like those of young kids and youngsters. Their frail minds accept public smoking as pop culture and they also start following the same trend. Mature people understand the hazards related to smoking but young minds are not familiar with the hazardous nature of smoking. Children tend to have less-developed ability of decision-making or critical thinking so they cannot realize what is wrong with what they are watching and their minds learn or absorb every act they see.

Wishik (1963) state in their research that, “As one looks around to see 18 and 19 year old boys and girls smoking, one is impressed with the number of them who have already become heavy smokers.” This increase in the number of young smokers is due to the pop culture that is imparted by their elders to them. Public smoking is an important example of pop culture that tends to destroy young minds