All Forms of Tobacco Should be Made Illegal - Term Paper Example

Teacher 21st April All Forms of Tobacco Should be Made Illegal It is a well established fact that tobacco is injurious to health. All tobacco products, whether cheap or expensive, harm our health. Everyone, regardless of age factor is prone to the harm of tobacco products. Children and women are more vulnerable to the damage caused by tobacco products. Ban on tobacco is among the much discussed topics in the world. It is not easy to close down this industry as millions of people are working in this industry and millions have invested in the industry. There are many forms of tobacco. All forms of tobacco contain addictive drug nicotine, which is said to be injurious to health. The use of tobacco casts deep effects on the health of a regular user. There are many diseases associated with the use of tobacco products. The use of tobacco products can cause cancer in many parts of the body. Children and women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of tobacco. This essay aims at identifying the drawbacks of smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products. This essay tries to make all aware of the reasons why all tobacco products should be banned. Smoking tobacco harms our health in many ways. In fact, the use of tobacco is akin to slow poisoning. The most famous and favorite form of tobacco products is ‘Cigarette’. Cigars and chewing tobacco are some important forms of the consumable tobacco products. Federal Drug Agency noted that use of tobacco is injurious to health (Federal Drug Agency). There are many diseases associated with tobacco usage. As per estimates by independent non-governmental organizations, more than 20 million people have been died due to use of cigarettes. There are many diseases associated with the usage of tobacco. In the US alone, smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths per year. The most dangerous diseases associated with the use of tobacco products are Lung Cancer, Oral Cancer, and other Cardiovascular and Respiratory diseases (National Cancer Institute).There are numerous harms of tobacco products. Cigarette, the famous tobacco product is also injurious to health. Smocking can cause cancer in many part of the body including Bladder, Blood (acute myeloid leukemia), Cervix, Colon, Esophagus, Kidney, Larynx, Liver, Oropharynx, Pancreas, Stomach, and Trachea (National Cancer Institute). Tobacco products also badly affect our brain and activities of brain. The effect of a commonly used tobacco product cigarette, as an example would further reflect on the related risks and harms. Generally, a smoker inhales 10 puffs on a cigarette in a 5 minutes time. Based on this estimate, we can say that a person, who smokes one pack of 25 cigarettes in a day, takes nicotine 250 times. When a person inhales a puff of cigarette, nicotine absorbs in to blood stream of the smoker. When nicotine enters in our bloodstream, it then enters to adrenal gland and releases hormone epinephrine (adrenaline). Epinephrine activates the central nervous system (CNS), which increases heart rate, respiration, and increases blood pressure which is bad for our body. Cigarette also increases levels of neurotransmitter dopamine like other addictive drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Increased levels of dopamine affect the brain pathways. In turn, it affects the reward and pressure system of our brain. That is why doctors say that smoking, chewing or inhaling tobacco products is a kind of addiction. Children and women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of tobacco. Especially, pregnant women, if smoke, can also harm the health of their babies. And even after the birth of child, women must avoid smocking because the smoke of cigarette is also dangerous for people sitting near the smoker. Second hand smoke of cigarette is more dangerous than that of the inhaled smoke of cigarette by a smoker (World Health Organization). Tobacco industry is one of the oldest and major industries in the world. China, India and Brazil are the top producers of tobacco. The production of tobacco is a controversial issue for decades. Tobacco companies spend more than 9 billion dollars annually in the US alone. Further categorization shows that more than a trillion dollars is spent in the world on advertising for tobacco products. British-American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, China National Tobacco Co, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco are the big players in tobacco industry. Many countries have banned the advertisement of tobacco products. Moreover, many countries have even banned the display of tobacco products on shops and stores. It is binding on the tobacco products manufacturers to print a cautionary note on each pack of the tobacco products. Quitting cigarettes and other tobacco products seems to be very difficult in the start but it is not impossible. In reality, life after quitting smoking gets easier. After quitting smoking, the chances of heart attack and stroke decrease. Majority of the people who quit smoking feel better after quitting it. There are a lot of resources that help people quit smoking. Quitting smoking is the best policy even if you smoke a few cigarettes a day (National Cancer Institute). It is not easy to quit smoking the first day. But the better approach to quit smoking is to quit it step by step (Be Tobacco Free, US Department of Health & Human Service). For women, quitting smoking is a must during pregnancy because it will also affect the health of new born (World Health Organization). Keeping the negative effects of tobacco, one may argue that this entire industry should be closed down. However, it is not easy to close down this industry right away due to some important reasons. The reason behind this inability to close down this industry is the fact that millions of people are working in this industry and millions have invested in tobacco industry. There is a need to take small steps to regulate tobacco industry. Some countries have banned the display of the tobacco products on shops and stores. Moreover, some countries have banned the advertising of tobacco products. Children under 18 years of age are already not allowed to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products. The step to levy high taxes on tobacco products is also a good step. All these steps are right steps in right direction but there is not substantial decrease in the use of tobacco products despite the increasing deaths due to use of tobacco products in the recent years (University of Louisiana at Lafayette). It is the need of the hour to make necessary arrangements and to take important steps to curb the use of tobacco products. The important step that must be taken without further delay is to ban all tobacco products. It is sad to know that the silence of governments, non-governmental organizations, and rights groups is allowing the sustained use of tobacco products. Besides other steps to curb the use of tobacco products, it is also important to raise awareness in general people. Governments and non-governmental organizations should run awareness campaigns to make people realize that tobacco products are injurious to health and it is their loss of time and money to indulge in this act of smoking tobacco. In essence, smoking and use of tobacco products is a slow poisoning and can lead to many serious illnesses including cancer. It is of utmost importance to stop using any kind of tobacco products taking on individual responsibility for the damages it causes. Children and women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of tobacco. Especially, pregnant women can harm the health of their babies. Keeping the harms of tobacco and its related products, one can assume banning tobacco is a right step to be taken. Works Cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use. Cdc.gov. March 30, 2015. Web. 11th April 2015, . US Department of Health & Human Service Tobacco. Surgeongeneral.gov. n.d. Web. 11th April 2015. . World Health Organization. Tobacco. WHO.int. n.d. Web. 11th April 2015. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/. University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Tobacco-Free Policy. Louisiana.edu. n.d. Web. 11th April 2015. http://safety.louisiana.edu/resource-center/policies/tobacco-free-policy. Federal Drug Agency. Overview of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act: Consumer Fact Sheet. FDA.gov. n.d. Web. 11th April 2015. http://www.fda.gov/tobaccoproducts/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/ucm246129.htm. National Cancer Institute. Smoking. Cancer.gov, n.d. Web. 11th April 2015. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/tobacco/smoking. Be Tobacco Free, US Department of Health & Human Service. Quit Now. HHS.gov. n.d. Web. 11th April 2015, http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov/quit-now/index.html. Smoke Free Women, US Department of Health and Human Services. Pregnancy and Motherhood. Smokefree.gov. n.d. Web. 11th April 2015. http://women.smokefree.gov/pregnancy-motherhood.aspx. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. CDC.gov. n.d. Web. 11th April 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/. Read More