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Student Union
Genevieve Westbrook |
Snuff those stinky things
when you’re in publicPicture this: You and your friends are at the mall having a blast, shopping until you drop. You walk out of your favorite shop and around the corner, and then you smell it, the gray, knocks-your-breath-out stench -- cigarette smoke. People smoke every day in public, but they do not realize their habits affect others around them. Cigarette smoking should be banned in all public places.
The Honolulu City Council banned smoking in Oahu restaurants starting July 1, 2002, and in restaurant bars one year later. Most stand-alone bars and nightclubs are exempt from the ban.
When a cigarette is burned, the combustion creates chemicals that are more hazardous than the ones the cigarette contained in the first place. Twenty-five percent of people nationwide smoke and they have rights, but what about our right to be healthy and smoke-free? What if I don't want to inhale second-hand smoke that is more dangerous than what the smoker is inhaling? Where are our rights when the minority chooses to smoke in public places?
"Cigarette inside and out: Health Canada for Youth," a Web site I found, has a list of chemicals found in cigarettes: more than 140 were listed. That is 140 chemicals you and I have to inhale every time we go to the mall, cafe, restaurant, bar and even driving in your own car, and I am not talking about the people in your car. It's the people driving in front of or beside you. If we were to ban all public smoking we would have a lot of big changes. Cancer rates would drop, secondhand smoke would not be a problem, children would be less likely to smoke when they were older and we would no longer offend the majority of people.
I am not against smoking, it is your own choice to slowly kill yourself if that is what you want to do. I just don't want the people who smoke to take me down with them. Secondhand smoke is more dangerous than mainstream smoking and it is even more dangerous to children, according to "Health Canada for Youth." Two-thirds of the smoke from a cigarette is not inhaled by the smoker but enters the air around them. When you inhale secondhand smoke, you are inhaling twice as much tar and nicotine as the actual smoker. So how is it that smokers have more rights when it comes to where they are allowed to smoke when we are suffering twice as much as they are?
According to Cancer.gov, the chance of developing lung cancer is increased by exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS, or secondhand smoke) and involuntary or passive smoking. Scientists estimate 3,000 lung cancer deaths each year are caused by secondhand smoke. "Meds.com" states that children of smoking parents have more respiratory problems than children of nonsmoking parents and that female nonsmokers married to smokers are exposed to ETS more than female nonsmokers married to nonsmoking spouses. I understand that these are "at home" examples, but these statistics show how the people who choose to smoke can affect nonsmokers.
In February, a Maryland bill that would have banned smoking in most public places was voted down. California banned all smoking in indoor public places starting Jan. 1, 1998. This included restaurants, bars, factories, offices and other enclosed work places. But, as predicted, many people have a problem with this and private business owners have chosen to ignore the law, saying that it is killing their businesses.
How can this be true when the majority of the population is smoke-free? Many nonsmokers already choose to stay away from a place that allows smoking, and that is how businesses lose money. If they obeyed the law they would make a better profit than now. It is awful to be enjoying a wonderful meal and have someone near you light up. Suddenly the meal is ruined and so is your appetite.
It is offensive and unwelcome to inhale other parties' habits. I don't cough in your face, so don't smoke in mine. It is your choice to smoke, but do it on your own time in your own home. Your choices affect everyone around you, so do the right thing and don't smoke in a public place.
Genevieve Westbrook is a member of Kaiser High School's Class of 2004.
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