* The 2014-2015 senior student signature series features area senior class students – and their own “signature” outlooks on a topic of their choice. A new outlook will be posted on Cross-Counties Connect each Friday. The series opens with point of view comments by seniors from Mountain Lake Public High School. The opinions can be found by clicking on the Family & Faith link on the website’s header, and scrolling down to, and clicking on, Outlook. Their teachers are Brenda Feil, Kim Syverson and Debby Jass.
Smoking In Public Areas
I personally think smoking in public areas should be banned. From my experiences walking into malls or other places, seeing people smoking right outside the door is annoying. Having to walk through that cloud of smoke makes me mad.
Smoking in public places influences young children and teens that it is okay to smoke. Young children and teens look up to adults. You could say that they want to know what they are supposed to do when they get older, or teens think it is the “cool” thing to do. If parents of young children smoke, and their kids are around it, they will most likely try a cigarette or start smoking in general.
Why should people that do not smoke have to be subjected to the annoying smell and the risk of health issues?
According to www.cdc.gov, studies link secondhand smoke to lung cancer, pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis and heart disease in non-smokers. Smoking affects nearly all organs in a person’s body. Studies also say smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths in the United States a year. Smoking kills more than alcohol use, illegal drug use, motor-vehicle injuries and firearm-related injuries. Tobacco kills 10 times more United States citizens than have died in the all the wars throughout history fought by the United States. Smoking can cause cancer in almost every part of your body. Smoking can also make it harder for women to get pregnant, and cause health risks for a mother’s baby before and after it is born. It can also cause preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth rate, orofacial clefts in infants and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome.)
Did you know that it is against the law to smoke with someone under 18 years of age in the car?
Now that you know what smoking can do to a person, are you still going to risk it?
Are you still going to have your kids be around that?
If you want to smoke, that is your choice, but why subject others who chose not to?
Personally, I am totally against tobacco smoking and I would not want to risk putting my body in that kind of danger.
Would you?