Smoking in america
Today, most people are aware of the hazards with smoking and second hand smoke. ... Many cities and businesses have rules to regulate where people may smoke, but the federal government does not have the right to issue any laws against smoking. Smoking in today’s society is a very controversial issue. Today some of the controversy surrounds Government regulations, health issues and cost, smoking in public and second hand smoke. The “cigarette controversy” has been well publicized to the public by the press, radio and on television concerning the hazards of cigarette smoking, but there is no controversy on this subject among health and medical organizations. Even though this sounds like a contradiction that the Surgeon General said that “Cigarette smoking is the greatest preventable cause of illness, disability and premature death in this country” (Smoking and Health… VII). ... From this information we can say that smoking is not a private concern; it is a public health problem also (Smoking and Health…). Cigarette smoking, even though it is an environmental hazard, can not be regulated by the government as is water pollution. Some toxic substances in the environment can be controlled by regulations, but when it comes to smoking in a society that is free, research and education must be used by public health programs to deal with smoking. But all the government can do is to warn people about the hazards of smoking, than if people do not wish to give this up as a habit, then except to protect the rights of non-smokers, the government can do no more (Smoking and Health. ... Many studies say that smoking during pregnancy can affect physical and mental development. Sudden infant death syndrome and neonatal death in otherwise normal infants can be attributed to mothers smoking during pregnancy (Smoking and Health…1-21, 1-22) In the past years, cigarette advertising was considered big business. ... But these tobacco advertisements did not tell the public the health hazards of smoking their product (Diehl 185,186).