Should Cigarettes Be Illegal In The United States?

An estimated forty-one million adults, aged eighteen and older, in the United States smoke cigarettes, and on top of that number there are over eight million Americans that use smokeless tobacco. That means there are over forty-nine million American citizens putting themselves and the people around them in danger of disease and permanent damage to their body. Tobacco in any form is very harmful. The use of tobacco should be illegal in all fifty states because it harms people in so many different ways and no matter what way people are using it they are harming themselves.
Three in ten cancer deaths are caused by smoking nationwide. In her article ‘New Insight Into Tobacco’s Toll’ Karen Kaplan wrote, “Cigarette smoking can be blamed for at least
According to the Center for Disease Control, “Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, with more than 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke.” But secondhand smoke doesn’t only affect the people who are around it, it can also harm your pets. On the website Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights they wrote, “Exposure to tobacco smoke has been associated with certain cancers in dogs and cats; allergies in dogs; and eye and skin diseases and respiratory problems in birds.” Secondhand smoke has been associated with lung cancer in birds, lymphoma and oral cancer in cats, and nasal cancer in dogs. Secondhand smoke isn’t the only way smoking can harm animals. Animals can also become ill by the ingestion of cigarette/cigar butts or chewing tobacco. The toxins in the cigarette butts can make the animal sick, or the nicotine could make them sick. By making tobacco illegal you can reduce the number of people and animals killed by the secondhand smoke and toxins emitted by
In the article ‘Smokeless Tobacco Is Harmful to Human Health’ the author wrote, “A recent study by researchers at the University of Minnesota concluded that smokeless tobacco is not a safe substitute for smoking. It found that users of smokeless tobacco had a similar exposure to one of tobacco's most potent cancer-causing agents, known as NNK. If all forms of tobacco are illegal, it will reduce the amount of cancer deaths in America by so much. According to the National Cancer Institute “Smokeless tobacco contains 28 cancer-causing agents, including formaldehyde (the same chemical used in embalming), butanol (an industrial solvent and alternative fuel), and polonium-210 and uranium-235 (both used in nuclear weapons).” These people believe that chewing tobacco is a safer alternative, but they are being