TobaccoJoin now to read essay TobaccoTabacco has been part of Western culture since the 16th century when explorers of the New World brought tobacco plants back to Europe. Over the past four centuries, smoking has become increasingly popular despite the fact that it has been the cause of countless deaths. The time has come for smoking to be banned. Smoking should be banned because it is an expensive addiction, which is a burden to the citizens of our country. For example, research clearly shows that lower income families. the people who can least afford it, spend the largest portion of their overall incomes on tobacco due to the fact that so many of them are addicted to smoking. For instance, the amount of time factory workers waste smoking when they could be working has a tremendously negative effect on the productivity of our countrys industries. Finally, the most inportant reason smoking should be banned is that it causes serious long-term illnesses
The Tobacco Act
The National Tobacco Research Council, headed by Dr. Richard Perle (Pharmaceutical Policy Alliance) has been pushing a number of bills for years to restrict smoking. When they introduced the “Nicotine Smoking Prevention and Control Act of 2009 (n-9)” last week, there was a massive backlash. The anti-smoking bill was named for former Senator Robert Menendez and Senator Cory Booker (N-N.J.). A study published by the National Drug Enforcement Administration, titled “The Tobacco Use and Health Survey 2013,” found that smoking helped kill 15% of the drug overdose deaths in the U.S. from 1996 through January 2015. Dr. Jonathan Schmitt, the National Tobacco Research Council’s Senior Vice President, and Dr. Dr. John G. Davis, an assistant professor of tobacco law from the University of Washington have been fighting a number of bills pushing for a ban at the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Justice, and numerous other agencies. Dr. Reimowitz recently was recently named the Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and as an Assistant Professor at Harvard University. As reported by the Huffington Post, Dr. Reimowitz said, “it is important to consider how tobacco use actually affects the health of smokers through health effects such as reduced lung function or more chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).” In 2009, a study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that “In fact, the proportion who smoke a substantial chunk of cigarettes to the point where they have to have cigarettes dropped from 32% to 19% between 2000-2006, and now it’s back to the 19% level (16% smoking for every smoker).” But the same report found that after the initial prohibition on tobacco, by 2007, “the tobacco use and deaths continue to rise, but the average amount of consumption increases.” For instance, in 2009, the median age of the population rose from 16.1 to 32.4. There are 541,000 smokers in the U.S. Currently, there are 1.6 million smokers in the United States who cannot stop smoking because their lungs have blocked nicotine. But the American Heart Association recently reported that the number of smokers has also increased and now has over 1 million smokers. More than 10- to 15-year-old tobacco users were admitted to hospital over the past three years and approximately one-fifth are current smokers. The tobacco industry is well aware that the public health risks associated with an increased use of nicotine are very serious. As reported in the New York Times on August 4th, the tobacco industry says that “despite a 30 year public health program devoted to helping smokers quit smoking, some 30 percent of young smokers now turn to cigarettes for their treatment”. The Center for Disease Control is urging the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to hold regular sessions on the issue. “Policymakers and citizens can support tobacco prohibition with legislation that addresses long-standing public health problems and protects the health and well-being of their children, teens and young adults through improved laws that promote public health, responsible development and responsible consumption,” wrote the group. And many legislators in America continue pressuring tobacco companies to be more transparent with the public.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCB) jointly published an online pamphlet entitled ‘The Prohibition of Tobacco and Smoke’ that urges the U.S. Congress to adopt and support the U.S. tobacco control and tobacco control laws. According to the group, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states in its pamphlet, “The tobacco industry can provide information about the medical benefits of cessation cigarettes if Americans, especially children, are allowed to access them legally via public health assistance, information related to tobacco and smoke, or through