Should People Smoke in Public Places

According to the Center for Disease Control, 19.3% of adults who are 18 years of age or older do currently smoke cigarettes (“Adult”). Smoking in public places can cause innocent people to be subject to secondhand smoke and cause them to suffer the same consequences as the actual smoker. Allowing people to smoke can also cause a business to lose valuable customers. It can be a gateway drug that can open the door to much more dangerous drugs. Smoking should not be allowed in restaurants and other public places. By smoking in a public place, people are affecting more than just themselves, they are also affecting the innocent. If smoking is allowed in public places, then adult and children nonsmokers are subject to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is defined as smoke that is breathed in that comes from the end of a lit cigarette, cigar, or pipe or that is exhaled by a smoker (Vogin). Nearly the same amounts of chemicals are breathed in during this than during the actual smoking process (Vogin). It is also known as involuntary or passive smoking. Secondhand smoke is bad for the heart and it can cause cancer. Secondhand smoke is nearly as harmful to the heart as chronic active smoking (“Banning”). Children are more vulnerable to smoke because they are still growing and developing (Vogin). Children of smokers have more respiratory illnesses and symptoms than children of nonsmokers (Taylor 113). Cigarette smoke is a very dangerous substance that should not be imposed on nonsmokers. Many health risks come along with smoking and secondhand smoke. The most well-known risks would be heart problems and cancers. Breathing in (even low doses of) smoke can increase the risk of having a heart attack (“Banning”). Direct smoking doubles the risk of a heart attack and secondhand smoke increases the risk by 30%. Also, secondhand smoke makes the blood “sticky” and more prone to clotting, reducing the amount of good (HDL) cholesterol in the body, and putting

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