Designated Smoking Areas on a College Campus - Essay Example

Smoking Areas Designated Smoking Areas on a College Campus Introduction Tobacco use in the US has declined over the past two decades; but cigarette use among college students goes on increasing. “In a nationwide survey sent to 119 different colleges in 1999, nearly 30 percent of students said they were current cigarette smokers, and roughly half had used some form of tobacco (including cigars and smokeless tobacco) in the last year.” (Woolston, 2001) Smoking is a big problem in public places especially in college and school campuses, in public transport vehicles, and in cinema theatres. Smoking creates problems for the smokers and also the surrounding persons who happen to breathe the smoke coming out from the mouth of the smokers. Some reports showed that the persons who breathe the smokes coming out from the mouth of a smoker can have more smoking related diseases than the smoker. “The trend toward a smoke-free country is going on everywhere," says Daniel Smith, president of the American Cancer Society Action Network. "I think college campuses are simply reflecting the same trend were seeing in society." (Fortin, 2009) Even though everybody knows about the possible health consequences of smoking, for some of the people, it is difficult to refrain from the smoking habits. Such people should be provided safe place for smoking in public places. “Currently, fewer than one-third of all colleges ban smoking in all indoor areas, including dorm rooms and offices. When colleges do take a stand, it makes a big difference. The Journal of American College Health reported in March, 2001 that nonsmoking students are 40 percent less likely to take up the habit when they live in smoke-free dorms.” (Woolston, 2001) Smoking Areas 2 Health impact of smoking The Environmental Protection Agency has classified secondhand smoke as a Group A carcinogen, a substance known to cause cancer in humans. The EPA does not recognize a safe level of exposure to Group A carcinogens. (Campus Policies, 2003) secondhand smoke is the smoke from cigarettes as inhaled by non smoking people. It has been proved that second hand smoke is as dangerous as that of the first hand smoke which the smokers consume. Second hand smoke can cause lung cancer and cardiovascular deceases. “Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, of which forty-three are known to cause cancer. Among the more toxic chemicals in tobacco are ammonia, arsenic, carbon monoxide, and benzene. Cigarette smoking is now known to cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, stroke, multiple cancers (including lung cancer), and adverse reproductive outcomes. Smoking causes about 21 percent of all deaths from heart disease, 86 percent of deaths from lung cancer, and 81 percent of all deaths from chronic lung disease.” Reasons for the proposed designated area for smokers Morally it is an injustice that a non smoker became the victim of smokers. It is a fact that people can take their own choices in smoking irrespective of the consequences. But at the same time they must ensure that their choices may not do any harm to other innocent people. Every people have their own ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ and they can lead a life based on that also. But the ‘rights’ should never cause any harm to the public. In a society the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ are Smoking Areas 3 decided based on its influences on other people. A person’s perspective of ‘rights’ should be the right one to everyone. Then only it can be labeled as a right thing as far as the society is concerned. For smokers, their action can be partly justified on the basis of individual rights only if they do not cause any harm to other public. For that purpose they must utilize separate smoking areas in public places like college campuses. Smoking in public places like college campuses openly will motivate other non smokers also. Students are getting most of their bad habits from their colleagues. There are lots of examples in which students who started smoking just for a joke became big chain smokers. I have a friend who was the son of a parish priest. This fellow brought up under the strict guidance of the priest and never engaged in any sort of bad habits like smoking or drinking. But when he entered the college, some of his friends asked him to taste the happiness of smoking. Though at first he denied, because of the immense pressure from the colleagues he has taken one or two puffs and then started to smoke regularly. So smoking at public places like college campuses will make others also motivated for smoking. Smoking in a public place like college campus often gives a wrong signal to the society. College campuses are meant for learning purposes only. The main objective of learning is to become good citizens of the society. As everybody knows, smoking is injurious to health. Lot of scientific researches has established the link between deceases like cancer, and cardiovascular problems with smoking. So it is an established fact that smoking creates lot of health problems to Smoking Areas 4 the smoker himself and also to the society and the environment. It is because of these facts the authorities has insisted to print warning signals like “smoking is injurious to health” on cigarette packets. In a college like place, which is considered as the providers of wisdom, smoking sends a wrong signal about the meaning of wisdom. Wisdom actually makes a person refrain from evil things. So smoking must be shifted to designated areas alone rather than publicly smoking anywhere anytime. Smoking should be permitted only at designated places like special rooms, in the parking lots, or in the toilet rooms. Toilet room smoking may not cause mush problems to others as it is a private place. The smoker must ensure the evacuation of the smokes using exhaust fans before he leaves the toilet room. Parking lots also can be utilized for smoking purposes if others are not present. Special locations in each college campus must be separated for smoking purposes. Such locations must be decided by a group, representative of both smokers and non smokers. Smoking in other places of the campus must be strictly prohibited and punished. “While signs prohibiting smoking are effective and prominent, designated smoking areas marked with signs reading “Smoking permitted at this area,” as well as ashtrays, accommodate smokers’ needs” (Wang, 2007) In any case the smokers must ensure that cigarette smokes coming out of their mouth should not cause any problems to others knowingly or unknowingly. Smoking Areas 5 Conclusions It has been proved beyond doubt that smoking has definite connection with some severe deceases like cancer and cardiovascular problems. If smoking cannot be prohibited then it should be isolated from public places. College campuses must be free from cigarette smokes as it sends some unhealthy messages to the society. College campuses are meant for the divine objective of attaining knowledge. It should not be utilized for any other purposes. Campuses must provide the smokers special areas for their smoking purposes. In any case it is not justified to cause problems to non smokers by smokers. Smoking Areas 6 Works Cited 1. Fortin Judy, (2009) , Smoke-free college trend growing, Retrieved on March 7, 2009 from 2. Woolston Chris, (2001), College Smokers, Retrieved on March 7, 2009 from 3. Campus Policies, (2003) Retrieved on March 7, 2009 from < http://www.taft.cc.ca.us/newtc/Administration/policy.htm> 4. SMOKING CESSATION,(2005) Retrieved on March 7, 2009 from 5. Wang Sue , (2007), Campuses crack down on smoking Retrieved on March 7, 2009 from < http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/archives/id/40327/> Read More