Should Cigarettes Be Banned?

                                Should cigarettes be banned?

Cigarette smoking should absolutely be banned from being smoked. Cigarette smoking is one of the unhealthiest things you can do. It is a known fact the cigarette smoking is directly linked to heart disease, heart attacks, lung cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, and Leukemia. Nearly 30% of cancer is cause by smoking Cigarettes. In 1982 it was said the cigarettes were the number leading cause of cancer. It is also said 1 out of every 5 people with die from cigarettes. Washington Duke, a farmer in North Carolina, brought about cigarettes in 1865. His Cigarettes were hand rolled and sold to soldiers. Not until James Bonsack invented a cigarette -making machine in 1881, then cigarettes became worldwide. Cigarettes were promoted on television, newspapers, and even magazines, which lead this to becoming a popular habit. Not only are cigarettes hazardous to your health but also are expensive and are bad for our environment.  

Cigarettes should be automatically be banned just because of the fact that it can kill or damage a person’s health severely. The fact that these cancer sticks are legal and that our government allow people to buy them amazes me. They are literally sitting back and watching people kill themselves by smoking. There are over 7,000 chemicals in cigarettes, 250 of them are unknown chemicals, and 69 of them cause cancer. Cigarettes destroy almost ever organ in the human body. Not only does smoking effect the smoker but also anyone who is around to catch the second hand smoke. That is not fair to people who actually try to maintain a good health. Over 42,000 people die a year from heart disease, along with 3,400 people dying from lung cancer, from related second hand smoking. Smokers should be at fault for this because it’s their negligence that caused these deaths. It also can affect people who already have health related issues, such as asthma, to have asthma related problems or even attacks. Smoking cigarettes can also be harmful to unborn babies. Babies can be born with birth defects, or even miscarriages. A baby can also be born with a weak immune system, and is more likely to catch colds, the flu, or anymore-contagious sicknesses.  Cigarette smokers claim that smoking can be relaxing and can take a lot of stress of their minds. I’m not disagreeing with their argument but wouldn’t it be more stressful putting your life at risk by smoking them. This really defeats the purpose of smoking them if you are only going to be stressed about your health later. Furthermore cigarettes have become quite more expensive from when they first were put in stores.

Cigarettes use to be ten to five cents a pack. Now they are nearly six to seven dollars a pack. At least 35 billion dollars are spent every year on cigarettes. This is a lot of money that could be spent on greater things like healthcare, education, housing for poor, or even food for less fortunate people. This is clearly a waste of money and people are basically buying their own deaths. Political sided people will argue to say that cigarette helps the economy from the taxes, which is true. Most of are agriculture of farming; harvest tobacco to sell, in which it gets taxed and the money goes to helping the economy, but couldn’t we create another way to make money for the economy? Not only are we as Americans use tobacco products but also foreign countries like China, Brazil, and India. Altogether they produce two-thirds of the world tobacco. I am sure there are several different things we all could produce and sell rather than tobacco.  More than 293 billion cigarettes were sold in 2011 in the United States alone. That is a lot of money considering the cost per pack. Overall this is an expensive bad habit and it effects everybody not only us has human beings but also our environment.

It isn’t a secret that smoking cigarettes are affecting our ozone layer. The chemicals that are released into the air after lighting a cigarette are very harmful toxins that are dangerous to our environment. Cigarettes are one of the leading problems to our world’s pollution. Not only can the smoke from cigarettes be harmful but also just growing it can be dangerous. Tobacco plants are very fragile and need great amounts of pesticides and herbicides for growth.  These pesticides and herbicides can attach to ground water. This can contaminate our water supply and kill wildlife animals and plants. Aldicarb is a toxin that is highly poisonous to humans and animals, and has been found in ground water in more than 27 states. This is not something that should be ignored; this is a serious matter that needs to be controlled. The manufacturing of these cigarettes is also dangerous to our environment. When they are manufacturing cigarette they also release a lot of harmful chemicals like ammonia, ethylene glycol, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen fluoride, methyl ethyl ketone, nicotine and nicotine salts, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, and toluene, into our air, which causes more pollution. Without people to buy or smoke cigarettes, companies cannot manufacture them.