Harmful Smoking Should Not Ignore Informatin Provided.
Today everyone knows that smoking is harmful but many people are ignoring the information that is being provided. There is always the thought that nothing bad will happen to me. And, everyone else is smoking and I want to be part of the in-crowd. So, I will smoke and pretend that smoking is not harmful. When the public was first informed about the negative medical consequences of smoking, all of the information was directed toward the smoker and their own health. The researches provided information that showed that smokers had a tendency to develop lung cancer, emphysema, strokes and heart attacks? While many people either did not believe this or they ignored it, the researchers continued to provide information about the harmful effects of smoking.
We now know that harmful smoking affects not only the smoker but everyone around them that is exposed to their second hand smoke. For many years, this was just thought to be a 'scare tactic' to get people to stop smoking, but extensive medical research has proved that smoking is harmful to everyone. The message about harmful smoking is getting more and more attention not only in the media, but also with the government, private industry and the health care community. They started to realize the long term consequence of harmful smoking and began an active campaign to help people stop smoking or to make it more difficult for them to smoke. Estimates are that harmful smoking will cost over 100 billion dollars annually in lost productivity and in health care costs. That is definitely a lot of money being spent every year to deal with harmful smoking habits. This is especially true when you consider that this problem can be avoided or potentially eliminated if people would just stop smoking. There is also the right to personal freedoms that we hold so dear and if someone wants to continue harming their own bodies by smoking then that is their right. However, because of many harmful consequences of smoking, many restrictions are being placed on smokers. There are now nonsmoking offices, restaurants, museums, airplanes, airports, bars and the list goes on and on. About the only place a person can really freely smoke their cigarette is in their own home or standing outside of a building that bans smoking. The effects of harmful smoking will have negative consequences for all of us. Whether we live with someone who smokes and are breathing their second hand smoke or we have to pay higher health insurance premiums to take care of the people who will develop terrible diseases because of their habit. The effects of harmful smoking can and will affect us all and even the next generation will be paying for our mistakes. |