Public Smooking Prohibition

Smoking Should be Banned in Public Places

 Smoking is a normal phenomenon that happens in our day to day society. Although smoking is legal in most countries, it substantially interferes with the activities and conditions of the non-smokers. The respect for other people's health is important in any setting in society. It is important to note that passive smokers who happen to take part in second-hand smoke are at a significant health risk. One might not be able to care about the smoking habits of other individuals but if this kind of tobacco use affects their health when in interacting in public places then it is a bad habit to do it in public. In this paper, I will give an explanation as to why smoking should be banned in the public places.

Impact on Passive Smokers

 Smoking in public has a significant effect on other people's lives as it has a measurable, tangible, and permanent impact on the passive smokers (Upton and Thirlaway 395). Passive smokers are forced to inhale the smoke from the smokers who are around them, and this smoke interferes with their respiratory system. Passive smokers form a part of the public whereby the smoke causes hazardous health conditions such as cancer, serious illness, cardiovascular, and also respiratory diseases. As research studies show, it is believed that tobacco smoking carries approximately 4,000 hazardous chemicals and 50 of these can cause cancer (Floyd, Mimms, and Yelding 448). Second-hand smoking is further detrimental to the health of the public as it results in nasal sinuses, lungs, cervical, and breast cancer. There are side effects such as heart stroke, miscarriage, infant pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, and infant problems that include fetal growth impairment. Banning of public smoking will prevent the passive smokers from acquiring health problems that result from smoking (Thirlway 254).

Litter Reduction

 Banning of public smoking will cause litter reduction. Smokers contaminate the environment through disposing of the used cigarettes. This careless disposal of garbage interferes with the environment (Wagenaar and Burris 120). The cigarette ends form a big part of the litter, approximately one million, and it detracts from the aesthetic of a location. If smokers are able to dispose of the cigarette ends in the right way when in a public setting, then they might be allowed to do their activity in the public places but at the moment they should be banned (Wagenaar and Burris 210). Henceforth, it is advisable to ban the smoking in the public areas so as to avoid littering of the environment. Most of the countries have put laws that prohibit public smoking simply because it affects the non-smokers and it also makes more smoke addicts. In other words, they cannot stay long without lighting cigarettes, and this makes it unsuitable for many places.

Discomfort for the Public

 Smoking in public causes discomfort to the other public members and also interferes with the right to a healthy workplace for employees (Mossialos 275). A safe and clean environment depends on every employer, and it is their responsibility to ensure such environment is sustained. Other workers feel okay working in an environment that there is a lot of smoking while others just persist because they just need the employment. Such an act is not good as the right of the non-smokers is not taken into consideration. The employees should ban smoking in the workplaces at it interferes with the comfort of other employees. The smoke makes the non-smokers uncomfortable in the public places, and this is a great concern (Mossialos 325). In addition, public smoking lingers bad odors like that of stale cigarettes.

Unpleasant Smells

 In reality, most of the people who smoke, when being approached the non-smokers, tend to have a bad smell from their clothes. This is a public discomfort because upon being with other people, especially in private places such as the elevators, then it makes them uncomfortable. The non-smokers also experience a foul smell that comes from the smoker’s breath which most of the time the bad breath does not disappear immediately after smoking (Henshaw 125). It tends to be so unpleasant to the non-smoker and also so uncomfortable for the smoker, especially when they interact.

Conclusion

 In conclusion, it is not wrong for one to smoke but when one smokes in a public place and it interferes with the other members of the public, it should be banned. Those smoking should know that the passive smokers are affected by their acts in public and the general public should be able to restrict smoking to be conducted in private places. In addition, smokers ought to respect the health of non-smokers so as to avoid tobacco use in public areas. The smokers should also realize that not only does it affect the non-smokers but their health is also at higher risks of acquiring the life-threatening diseases. I support the banning public smoking because the environment will be clean from both the air and the physical look. Banning of smoking will also produce healthy individuals, thus, reducing the life-threatening diseases that are brought by this habit.

Works Cited

Floyd, Patricia, Sandra Mimms, and Caroline Yelding. Personal Health: Perspectives and Lifestyles. Nelson Education, 2007.

Henshaw, Victoria. Urban Smellscapes: Understanding and Designing City Smell Environments. Routledge, 2013.

Mossialos, Elias. Health Systems Governance in Europe: The Role of European Union Law and Policy. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Upton, Dominic, and Katie Thirlaway. Promoting Healthy Behaviour: A Practical Guide. Routledge, 2014.

Wagenaar, Alexander C., and Scott C. Burris, eds. Public Health Law Research: Theory and Methods. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.