Cigarettes should be banned

A governments responsibility to their citizens. The / A government role is to ensure the well being of it's citizens, and make the best calls regarding their welfare. They have an obligation to protect and take care of their citizens, even if that means making calls that are controversial in order to ensure that there is overall good accomplished ( http://scholarship.law.duke.edu... ). That is why considerations of gun ban, drug bans, or other type of bans having taking place in the past and will continue to take place in the future. If something is considered a net detriment it is often banned. Cigs) Cigarettes have carry a net loss all around. Cigarettes can effect your heart, lungs, and arteries. Symptoms and diseases can include atherosclerosis, aneurysms, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, heart attacks, and high blood pressure and these are just some. ( http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov... ). Tobacco alone causes over 5 million deaths yearly ( http://www.cdc.gov... ) , and given the trends it is estimated that tobacco will increase up to nearly 8 million deaths by the year 2030. To put this in perspective tobacco causes nearly 10 x the amount of deaths that guns do yearly ( http://en.wikipedia.org... ). This is a product that is without a doubt a net detriment to have. The only thing it does is affect ones health, and cause negative impacts bu there are great issues other than self harm as to why it should be banned. Second hand effects) These are people that get the effects of cigarettes without smoking them. This can be a persons child's, friend, or family member. Basically when someone smokes a cig most of the smoke does not go into their lungs, but in the air where anyone can inhale. Smoking is banned in some public places but that does not even begin to fix the issue. This is especially true with children around their parents. Tobacco has more than 4,000 chemical compounds with around 250 or so being known to cause disease ( http://www.webmd.com... ). Just in the US alone second hand smoke causes 34,000 deaths from heart attacks and 7,300 from lung cancer. This number goes over half a million when you look at it world wide. ( http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com...) . Also 26 percent of adults in the US smoke cigs, and this number also increases world wide. Whats worse is that 50 - 70 percent of children live under the roof of at least on adult smoker ( http://www.entnet.org... ) . The negative impacts on children are astronomical. This is not even considering what happens when women smoke that pregnant. Basically a women intends to have a child and smokes during the pregnancy. " Maternal, fetal, and placental blood flow change when pregnant women smoke, although the long-term health effects of these changes are not known. Some studies suggest that smoking during pregnancy causes birth defects such as cleft lip or palate. Smoking mothers produce less milk, and their babies have a lower birth weight. Maternal smoking also is associated with neonatal death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the major cause of death in infants between one month and one year old." ( prior source)It is also shown that women who smoke during pregnancy, put their child at a high risk to brain disease or other deformities. All around smoking is bad, and governments should uphold their obligation to protect their citizens and ban it. Smoking is a net loss when you are counting peoples lives.