Sabreen Alharsha
Ms. Shukairy
Freshman Writing
10/27/13
Cigarettes Legal vs.
Illegal
About 8.6 million
people in the united states have at least one serious illness caused
by smoking. There are approximately 600 ingredients in cigarettes.
When burned,they create more than 4,000 chemicals at least 50 of
these chemicals are known to cause cancer, and many are poisonous.
(lung.org
)The question is, with all these dangerous chemicals in the cigarette
why are they still legal? Cigarettes should be illegal because they
are harmful.
In other words,
smoking-related diseases cause about 443,000 American deaths each
year. That means that for every person who dies of a smoking- related
disease there are 20 more people who suffer from at least one serious
illness associated with smoking. Also smokers die significantly
earlier than nonsmokers: 13.2 years for men and 14.5 years for women.
Most of the chemicals used in the
cigarette are bizarre like arsenic-used in rat poison, benzene-found
in rubber cement, Naphthalene-an
ingredient in moth balls,and methanol-a main component in rocket
fuel. ( lung.org
)Many other drugs are illegal and
they can cause deaths. Cigarettes can cause deaths to so cigarettes
should be illegal ?(weak analogy)
With all of this in mind my father is still a smoker. He's been a
smoker for thirty-five years and counting. About eight years ago he
developed a disk in his lower back. He recently had a heart attack
because the harmful chemicals in the cigarettes clogged his arteries
and caused the blood not to circulate to his arms or legs. During
surgery they added seven stent into his body to open his arteries. A
stent is a piece of metal put in the body to open/ keep the arteries
open. My grandfather from my mothers side is also a smoker. He's been
a smoker for about seventy-one years. He had a heart transplant from
how bad it was. Recently he went blind because of his smoking. He
will never be able to see again. They will both be taking medication
for the rest of their lives. Also imagine if each box of cigarettes
costs about $8.00 and there are ten cigars in the box and they each
smoke about one pack a day. That would be at least $56.00 a week
saved if it was smoking was illegal.
Cigarettes should
be illegal and not be sold in stores because they are harmful to the
people who actually smoke and harmful to the people around them, the
secondhand smokers. It has been said that smoking one cigarette in a
house would take about 6 months to get rid off. Also if cigarettes
are illegal it'll be so much easier to quit which would save a lot of
money and lives. Cigarettes also cause pollution so they also hurt
the environment. And lastly it gives a bad example to the next
generation of children.
Some
believe that smoking can cause less stress. This position is weak
because smoking is not the only thing that can cause less stress
there are many other things to even wipe out stress completely. Many
are just using the stress as an excuse. They might believe that
cigarettes cause less stress but is it really gonna cause less stress
when their on their death beds. Stress is not even a good enough
reason to be on your death bed 10 years earlier. (cancer.gov
)
In conclusion
cigarettes should be illegal because they are harmful to the
consumer, the secondhand smoker, to the environment, and to the
children. The cigarette don't necessarily help in any ways and they
are very costly. Also most of the chemicals used in the cigarette are
very disturbing to be in the body. Without cigarettes many families
wouldn't be in need of money, most people wouldn't be sick and in
need of medical attention. Cigarettes should be illegal so that it
can be easier for most smokers to quit. And they should quit because
who wants rocket fuel in their body? Also a result of smoking makes
the consumer lose their sense of taste and smell, who would want to
risk that for a cigarette.
Works
cited page
1.“Harms
of Smoking and Health Benefits of
Quitting.”(http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation
) 10-27-2013
2.”What's
in a Cigarette?” (
http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/facts-figures/whats-in-a-cigarette.html
)10-27-2013
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