Smoking Ban

Stuff to Talk About:I forgot to mention: this debate is part of Zaradi's Prized Debate Tournament (www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/59235/)To prevent further confusion before I start, I'd like to note that TN05 and I have agreed that this topic pertains specifically to cigarettes (if that wasn't obviou already).Finally, congratulations to TN05 for making it this far. I look forward to this debate. :)1 - HealthSmoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death. Smoking has caused the death of 4 million people worldwide[1].Smoking is a major cause of cancer and a number of crippling diseases: [2] Exhaling smoke expels a mere 10% of the material inhaled with the other 90% of the hundreds of toxins in a smoke trapped in the body.[3]A machine which mimics human smoking patterns over the course of 2000 cigarettes collected enough tar to fill a little bottle. A diluted solution of this tar was painted on the skin of some mice. 60% of these mice developed skin cancer within a year[3].Here is a common difference between the lungs of a smoker and the lungs of someone living in a polluted city: Notice the specks on the right side which are indicative of carbon deposits.A smoker's lung looks like this: The blackened areas are a result of tar, and the white area to the right is cancer. "Smoking, a main cause of small cell and non-small cell lung cancer, contributes to 80 percent and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in women and men, respectively."[4]Smoking destroys the cilia in the lung, severely crippling the ability of the lung to mitigate mucous buildup. Smoking damages the lungs ability to collect and distribute oxygen throughout the body.Smoking is the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. As an exercise as to the potential suffering smoking causes to the smoker: Take a deep breath. Hold it. Don't exhale. Take another deep breath. Hold that. Take another breath on top of that. The second and third breaths are exactly the way people with emphysema feel when they breathe. About 4.7 milllion people lived this way[5] Smoking not only discolors the lung, but can destroy the ability of the lung to contract making it incredibly difficult to exhale. Emphysema so completely damages the lung that it no longer even retains its original shape: Additionally, smoking hurts the lungs' immune capacity. Smokers generally suffer from symptoms of chest pain, short breath, persistent coughing, frequent colds and respiratory infections, persistent hoarseness, difficulty or pain on swallowing, etc.[6]It is safe to say that the benefits of smoking, the rare pleasure and the more common satisfaction of nicotine addiction, are insurmountably outweighed by the prevalent suffering smoking causes. 2 - CostsWith the myriad of health detriments caused by smoking, it is unsurprising to see their reflecting on the health industry:"$96 Billion dollars were spent on tobacco-related healthcare costs in the United States from 2000 to 2004, instead of being spent on things like transportation, education, public safety and rural development [..] From 2000 to 2004, tobacco-related health costs and productivity loss in the United States totaled $193 Billion"[7]5 trillion cigarettes are produced and used on an annual basis.[9]On top of the suffering and the cost to human life that it causes, smoking is an immense drain on our resources. From a utilitarian perspective, a smoking ban is a moral obligation. Considering that it is illegal to encourage suicide (with very few exceptions), the sales and advertisement of cigarettes, encouraging people to smoke, should be in the same legal category.3 - No Free Will.There is no free will in having your brain be controlled by artificially-induced impulses. Nicotine is more addictive than already illegal drugs such as crack cocaine and crystal meth. Nicotine is the most addicting substance in the world with an incredible 98% addiction rate.[8]Those living in constant exposure to second-hand smoke have a 20-30% higher risk of developing lung cancer. Second-hand smoke exposure in the workplace have shown a 16-19%[12] increase in the population of lung cancer patients. Smoking bans remove the risk for these people who have no choice but to face exposure otherwise. An Oxford journal demonstrated via study that smokers are misinformed about many aspects of the cigarettes they smoke[10]. THe sales of tobacco products against a misinformed populace make cigar companies comparable to scammers. Once the addiction is engendered, it (not-free-will) is almost impossible to overcome. "Only about 4% to 7% of people are able to quit smoking on any given attempt."[11]68.9% of adult smokers wanted to stop smoking[13]. Many smokers literally can't quit, even if they want to. Tobacco destroys a person's ability to effectively exercise their free will.With a majority of smokers wanting to quit and with a 98% addiction rate and a 93-96% inability to quit, any argument appealing to freedom of choice cannot be plausibly held.Conclusion:Really, smoking only creates for society an unnecessary burden, taking up immense quantities of resources and countless cases of needless death and suffering. Again, from a utilitarian moral perspective, we are morally obligated to stop the continuation of the tobacco industry. It is time tobacco is filed away along with meth, cocaine, heroine, etc.[1] http://www.wpro.who.int...[2] http://www.surgeongeneral.gov...[3] http://whyquit.com...[4] http://www.lung.org...[5] http://www.lung.org...[6] http://www.emedicinehealth.com...[7] http://www.cancer.org...[8] https://addictions.knoji.com...[9] http://quitsmoking.about.com...[10] http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org...[11] http://www.cancer.org...[12] http://www.debate.org...[13] http://www.cdc.gov...On to CON!