This House Would Ban Smoking

First, I would like you to know the harms and dangers of smoking. 1. Smoking leads and causes many cancers, such as cancer in lung, oesophagus, throat, kidney, bladder, etc. (refer to : http://www.cancer.gov...) 2. Smoking causes coronary heart disease, reduced circulation by narrowing blood vessels (putting smokers at risk of developing peripheral vascular disease) and abdominal aortic aneurysm, as well as lung diseases such as chronic airway obstruction. 3. Smoking has adverse reproductive and early childhood effects such as infertility, stillborn birth, low birth weight, etc. (refer to : http://www.cdc.gov..., http://www.cdc.gov..., http://circ.ahajournals.org...) 4. Here are some study results which show smoking associated with the following adverse health effects: Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked. Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than women who never smoked. 5. Smoking is estimated to increase the risk of- Stroke by 2 to 4 times Men developing lung cancer by 23 times Women developing lung cancer by 13 times 6. Smoking causes death Asides from death caused by the diseases mentioned above, smoking causes an estimated 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80% in women. An estimated 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease are caused by smoking. (refer to : http://www.cdc.gov...) 7. Smoking does damage to the body Our body produces antioxidants to help repair damaged cells. Smokers have lower levels of these in their blood than nonsmokers. Smokers have eyes that sting, water and blink more. They also have less sense of smell and dental problems such as loose teeth and gum disease (gingivitis). They have reduced sense of taste and poor circulation of blood. Smoking can cause asthma and shortness of breath, and also complicates tuberculosis. Arteries of the heart are weakened and harmed. Smokers get leukaemia and gangrene easier, and generally have a weaker immune system. 8. Risks to foetus Asides from being stillborn as mentioned above, they have a higher risk of having birth defects such as congenital limb reduction. So, how real are the above diseases and harms? What do they eventually lead to? Answer is: death. One in two lifetime smokers die from their habit. Half of those occur in middle age. And, on a global level, researchers report that there were 1,690,000 premature deaths from cardiovascular disease among smokers in the year 2000. In contrast, there were approximately 850,000 lung cancer deaths during the same year, and 118,000 COPD deaths from smoking in 2001, worldwide. 90% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. 30% of all cancer fatalities are caused by smoking. 75% of all fatal cases of emphysema and bronchitis are linked to smoking. Well, who cares if I harm my own body? However, the thing is, when smokers exhale, they breathe out smoke, known as second hand smoke. It causes all of the diseases and harms your body in the ways mentioned above. YOU might want to harm your body, but nonsmokers don't. While you are enjoying your cigarette, passerby breathes in the second hand smoke, and all the things mentioned above could happen to them. Sure, you can harm yourself, no one's going to stop you, but you are in fact forcefully harming others' bodies too! All human beings must breathe, so breathing in the smoke smokers exhale is inevitable. Then we get health problems we don't want because of secondhand smoke. It is unfair, cruel and robbing us of our rights to protect our health. Certainly you have a right to smoke, but not the right to harm another's body. So unless smokers make sure NONE of the smoke escapes into the air (you cannot breathe out!), they are causing health problems to people nearby and violating te rights of others who choose not to smoke. Other References: http://www.quittersguide.com... http://www.quit-smoking-central.com...