Abstract
Smoking is an urgent problem in the modern world, and for decades, there has been a debate about whether to ban smoking or not. This paper considers the factors that allow us to conclude that banning smoking is the best idea. Smoking damages the health of cigarette smokers, the people around them, and the natural environment. Moreover, a common argument against banning smoking was also considered, namely that it is very profitable for the government to tax tobacco production.
Introduction
In modern society, smoking is shared among different groups, including women, teenagers, and children. According to statistics, about a billion people worldwide regularly consume tobacco (Hopkinson et al., 2021). Nicotine dependence represents a threat to the human body.
A person who smokes even one butt daily causes irreparable harm to their health and the health of the people around them. In addition to health, irreparable damage to the environment is also inflicted. Despite all these factors, many supporters believe smoking cannot be banned, as it brings large sums to the government in the form of taxes. However, saving healthcare money will offset these amounts when smoking is forbidden.
Smoking and Health
Smoking negatively affects the health of people who use tobacco products. Smokers’ lungs work worse than those of non-smokers. Bronchial constriction occurs, gas exchange disorders develop, and, as a result, oxygen deficiency (Gallucci et al., 2020). Based on recent research, the lungs of an average 40-year-old person who smokes are approximately in the same condition as those of a healthy individual from 75 to 80 years old (Hopkinson et al., 2021).
Tobacco smoke is the most well-known carcinogen. The underlying issue is that the chemicals in cigarette smoke contain mutagenic components, which might potentially develop cancer and lead to mutations and other types of genetic damage (Gallucci et al., 2020). Tobacco consumption increases the risk of tumors and reduces life expectancy after cancer, increasing the risk of relapses.
Moreover, nicotine increases blood pressure by causing blood vessel spasms, negatively affecting the individual’s well-being. The walls of vessels are corrupted, and cholesterol plaques settle on them. These factors are the leading causes of the growth of cardiovascular illnesses, right up to myocardial infarction. This problem can also occur in the human brain, resulting in temporary or permanent damage, such as problems with memory, increased risks of paralysis, and insufficient blood supply (Hopkinson et al., 2021). Thus, the rejection of tobacco products contributes to the prevention of cancer: it helps to prevent the appearance of new mutations. Also, it has a positive effect on people’s general well-being.
Passive Smoking
Most smokers realize that tobacco smoke is dangerous to their health, but few people think that others breathe the same smoky air. Living in the same house or working with smokers, non—smokers involuntarily, even forcibly, inhale tobacco smoke – this phenomenon has been called “passive smoking.” Passive smoking is more harmful than active smoking because the smoker inhales the amount of smoke passing through the filter. Moreover, this portion is only 35-40% of the smoke, and the remaining 60-65% is formed during the smoldering of the cigarette itself and inhaled by surrounding people (Du et al., 2020). In recent years, there has been more and more information that passive smokers may have diseases usually characteristic of people who smoke.
According to research, with passive smoking, the same changes occur in the body of a non-smoker as in the organs and systems of a smoker (Khoramdad et al., 2020). Passive smoking is considered a risk factor for coronary heart disease, heart vessel damage, and stroke. When inhaling cigarette smoke, the same vascular damage occurs as with active smoking. If people stay in a smoky room for a long time daily, the risk of heart and vascular diseases increases by 30% (Khoramdad et al., 2020). Thus, passive smoking has the same consequences for human health as regular smoking, so banning smoking will help protect people.
Smoking and Ecology
In addition to harming health, smoking also damages the environment. Cigarettes are the world’s most frequently discarded type of garbage and the primary pollutant of the coasts. According to a study conducted in Washington, among most smokers surveyed, 74.1% have thrown a cigarette butt on the ground or out of a car window at least once (Tsigaris & Teixeira da Silva, 2020).
In most cases, cigarette filters are fabricated of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic. They need about 20 years to decompose, not wholly disappear, but to become microplastic (Tsigaris & Teixeira da Silva, 2020). Moreover, it can lead to severe environmental problems since one of the filter components – tobacco resin – is highly toxic to fish.
Toxic substances contain aluminum, bromine, chromium, brass, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, strontium, hydrargyrum, and arsenic. They are effortlessly washed off with water and contaminate the soil and water. One ton of cellulose acetate produces 1.4 tons of greenhouse gas in CO2 equivalent (Khorramabad et al., 2020).
The performance of sunscreen filters generates more than 61 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, which is equivalent to an annual carbon emission of 15,400 people (the average carbon footprint of a person is four thousand tons of carbon dioxide per year) (Cigaris and Teixeira da Silva, 2020). Thus, smoking, the release of cigarette cans, and the production of tobacco products cause severe environmental damage, and a ban on smoking will help to correct this.
Smoking and Economics
However, the opinion is that cigarettes cannot be banned, as this will entail an economic collapse. The government receives large sums from cigarette manufacturers in the form of taxes, and, among other things, the production of tobacco products provides many people with jobs (Vlaev et al., 2019). Thus, in the production of tobacco products, the government earns large sums, and if smoking is banned, it can lead to big problems.
However, even if the government loses on the cigarette tax levy, it will ultimately benefit because of lower healthcare costs. It is alleged that the course of treatment of smoking-related diseases, the decline in economic productivity, and premature mortality amount to 544 billion euros per year (Apollonio et al., 2021). Thus, by reducing the number of active and passive smokers, a ban on smoking can save health systems much money.
Conclusion
Smoking hurts human health, but many do not take this addiction seriously. Smoking tobacco products can provoke oncological diseases, diseases of the cardiovascular system, and diseases of the respiratory tract. Smoking damages the smoker’s health, family, and company employees.
Its surplus inside can cause vertigo, vomiting, tussiculation, irritability of the membranes of the eyes and windpipe, and allergic attacks. Tobacco smoke contributes to identical decreases in non-smokers as in smokers. Furthermore, the production of tobacco products, cigarette smoke, and bullheads hurts the environment. Moreover, although governments receive large tax deductions from the production of cigarettes, it will be possible to get the same amount by reducing health care costs with a ban on smoking.
References
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