Introduction
Cigarette smoking: An Overview is an article written by Ellen Bailey and Nancy Sprague and it highlights the debates surrounding cigarette smoking and production in the United States. Most nations that produce tobacco face serious health and political challenges due to the influence of its products on consumers. There are various measures put in place to ensure the public is protected from harmful tobacco smoke even though this does not seem to produce the expected results. In addition, debate continues to surround the issue of banning the production of cigarettes and the effects of passive and active tobacco smoking in human beings. The authors of the article mentioned above have presented a fair argument about the effects of cigarette smoking and debate on banning the production and use of tobacco in America.
Article Summary
This article bases its argument on the United States Surgeon General Luther Terry’s 1964 claim that lung cancer was linked to tobacco smoking. This statement elicited controversial discussions regarding how tobacco manufacturing companies used illegal means of enhancing the quality of their products (Bailey and Sprague 2013). In addition, it aroused the need to evaluate cigarette advertisements and how this affected youths in the 20th century and today. Bailey and Sprague present opinions that show the long battles cigarette manufacturing companies, states, and individuals have experienced regarding the effects and appropriateness of tobacco smoking (Bailey and Sprague 2013). The article explains that politics play a significant role in determining the future of tobacco production and presents how various famous people in the United States had interests in this lucrative business.
Facts
The authors of this article present a factual discussion on the influence of tobacco on human health. It is important to explain that tobacco smoking is an old age practice, even though its effects started being felt in the 1960s when lung cancer became a serious issue (Bailey and Sprague 2013). The Surgeon General of the United States at that time, Luther Terry expressed his dissatisfaction with how Americans had taken to cigarette smoking as a hobby. In addition, they verify the authenticity of this information by presenting views from various health departments like the Food and Drug Administration and the American Cancer Society (Bailey and Sprague 2013).
They present accurate claims that smoking bans violate civil rights that allow people to invest in legal businesses to develop their nations and families. These claims are valid because it is ironic to give tobacco companies licenses to operate and then ban their products from markets (Bailey and Sprague 2013). The authors argue that the presence of nicotine in tobacco is a serious health issue and cigarette companies should address it if they want to make their products safe for human use. In addition, it is correct to argue that smoking bans have not affected the activities of tobacco companies because they do not stop them from doing their businesses.
The argument presented by these authors that public interest overrides personal freedoms is correct because an individual is part of society. They present valid arguments that passive smoking affects the performance of employees and thus the legislation of smoking bans in offices is a good idea (Bailey and Sprague 2013). They claim that tobacco is dangerous and everybody exposed to its smoke is at risk of suffering from lung cancer; moreover, secondhand smoking is dangerous and has been blamed for causing Sudden Infant Deaths (SID).
Lastly, tobacco smoking is indeed addictive because people that start this practice during their teenage years find it difficult to quit. However, these authors have not presented any information to prove the amount of nicotine that can affect an individual (Bailey and Sprague 2013). In addition, they do not explain the relationship between tobacco smoking and other problems like environmental pollution, domestic violence, and addiction. The argument presented in the article does not explain the effects of addiction on job productivity, social relations, and investments. However, they present an accurate observation that cigarette advertisements should be banned because they lure youths to tobacco smoking (Bailey and Sprague 2013). Their argument that tobacco companies add nicotine to increase the addiction levels of cigarettes is accurate. However, there is the need to explain international standards that have been recommended to prove whether these companies usually put excess nicotine in cigarettes.
Opinions
The claim that second-hand smoking and lung cancer debates have disappeared is an inaccurate opinion because people continue to present different views about this discussion. It is not correct to argue that critics of smoking bans and second-hand smokers oppose government measures to prohibit advertisements that market cigarettes; therefore, this opinion has not been verified (Bailey and Sprague 2013). The article claims that companies mix nicotine with tobacco to increase their addiction, but this has not been confirmed because no manufacturer has ever been caught doing this. The opinion of these authors may be based on the fact that some companies were forced to pay out-of-court settlements of $246 billion, according to the Master Settlement Agreement of 1994 (Bailey and Sprague 2013).
In addition, they claim that smoking is a personal choice; however, this is not true even though there is no need of having statistics to show this (Bailey and Sprague 2013). Passive smoking is not a personal choice because it affects people that do not smoke. Moreover, other issues like peer pressure, child abuse, unemployment, and lack of role models entice youths to smoke cigarettes (Bailey and Sprague 2013). Therefore, this opinion does not portray the actual picture of what happens in society. The authors claim that the number of women smokers is increasing and there is the need to include evidence like affirmative action and higher learning as factors that motivate young girls to start smoking. However, it is not true that more than 700 million children are exposed to tobacco smoke annually because most countries have enacted stiff penalties to curb public smoking (Bailey and Sprague 2013).
Lastly, the article claims that politics in America play an important role in helping tobacco producers and companies to continue with their operations (Bailey and Sprague 2013). This information should have been supported by evidence that shows the link between these aspects. The fact that some powerful politicians cultivated tobacco does not mean that they were against policies that supported smoking bans. In addition, there is no evidence to prove that these companies hired researchers to represent them in courts and manipulate data to show that smoking had minimal impacts on passive smokers (Bailey and Sprague 2013).
Conclusion
The article has presented a fair argument about smoking bans, second-hand smokers, and issues that need to be addressed to discourage teenagers from this habit. The facts presented are valid even though they do not have adequate evidence to support them; moreover, there is the need to research the opinions expressed by these authors to educate the public about smoking. The authors have successfully fulfilled the purpose they started because they have presented a general discussion about smoking, its history, effects, companies, and bans in the United States.
Reference
Bailey, E and Sprague, N. (2013). Cigarette Smoking: An Overview. Points of View: Cigarette Smoking, 1.