Every day, smoking in public places such as restaurants or airport terminals impacts millions of Americans. For many, smoking in public places is just a part of their daily lives. However, for others it is viewed upon as a nasty habit that negatively impacts the smoker’s health themselves but also the people surrounded by the second hand smoke as well. It is a debate that has been around for decades, should smoking be banned in public places? Listed below is some general information about the pros and negative connotations that surrounded banning smoking in public places.
To begin with, exposure to second hand smoke can cause disease and other premature death related scenarios among nonsmokers. There is also no risk-free level of second-hand smoke and even short amounts of exposure can cause sudden harm. According to the CDC, studies have shown that smoke free laws that ban smoking in public places such as bars and restaurants help better the overall health of workers and the general public in those areas. The CDC also states that there is no risk-free level of second-hand smoke and even brief exposure can cause immediate harm, and that banning smoking in public places improves health outcomes such as reductions in hospital visits or admissions for heart attacks.
The American College of Cardiology reported that smoking bans can reduce the number of heart attacks as much as 26 percent per year, and that a national ban on smoking in public places could prevent as many as 154,000 heart attacks each year. They also found that even breathing in low doses of cigarette smoke can increase one’s risk of heart attack by a study they conducted which shows direct smoking doubles the risk of heart attacks while second hand smoke increases the risk by 30 percent. According to the American College of Cardiology, smoking remains the leading preventable risk factor for heart attacks.
Introducing smoking bans on public places wouldn’t just be beneficial to the overall health and well-being of the general public, but it also reduces the litter reduction in public areas. Cigarette butts account for millions of litter annually and reduces the location’s aesthetic views greatly. A smoking ban on public places would reduce litter tremendously.
However, there are many arguments to this topic. First and foremost, smoking and use of tobacco products is legal if you’re of age to purchase them in the United States. The government has no right to force people to stop smoking in public places because of the legality of smoking in general. Click here for more info! According to Stephen Tall, a democratic politician, banning smoking in public places is essentially a form of prohibition which clearly doesn’t work according to history.
In addition to this, according to the Foundation for Economic Education, a large portion of this argument plays a role into basic property rights. They argue that the debate about smoking bans should center more on private property rights and whether or not you should be allowed permission to smoke in a public place should be determined by the owner of that place.
Regardless, smoking bans in public places seem like they aren’t going to change any time soon. The general non-smoking public will still have health concern issues regarding it and the public smokers will see no issue with smoking tobacco products in the open because the government has legalized it and there is no law against it.