Argumentative Essay Example: Smoking Should Be Banned
Smoking is so cool! Everybody loves gunk in their body and lungs! It is actually quite the opposite. Smoking ruins the lungs and causes a lot of deaths, whether it's the smokers, or the people that inhale the smoke. Smoking also impairs the mental judgement of the person, so it is extremely hazardous while driving. That is the harsh reality. Smoking is very damaging to the body and detrimentally affects people socially, so therefore it should be outlawed.
Leading with, smoking is damaging to the body and is very bad for health. To illustrate, in the text, it states that “...many people widely disagree on whether any substance can be good when smoked since any form of smoking taxes the lungs” (Rose). By extension, It does not matter what substance is smoked, it will still take its toll on the lungs. In short, having exhausted lungs is dangerous and since a big cause of that is smoking, smoking should be banned. Moreover, in the article, “Health Effects Of Smoking”, “Smoking can lead to lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, continuous shortness of breath due to emphysematous injury in COPD, and persistent cough often with pneumonia” (Gometz). In other words, lung cancer, shortness of breath, and coughing are all unfavorable effects of smoking. Ultimately, smoking is dangerous and sometimes lethal, so it should be made illegal.
Following, smoking is significantly harmful to others around. To illustrate this, the article written by Nicholas Pell says that, “People seek to avoid smokers due to the health risks posed by secondhand smoke… some people… may choose not to go to your house if you smoke indoors.” In short, people avoid smokers because they do not want to breathe the toxic fumes in. To put it bluntly, no one wants to be avoided, and smoking can be a cause of that problem. Another example is in the article “Cigarettes and Other”, which says, "Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of ear infections, severe asthma, lung infections,, and death from sudden infant death syndrome” (3). To put in another way, children exposed to secondhand smoking have a greater risk of infections and asthma. Ultimately, children (who do not even smoke) should not have these damaging consequences from unintentionally inhaling the smoke.
On the other hand, smoking advocates say it is relaxing to the body. To illustrate this, the article states that, "Some of the purported advantages include a sense of calm and relaxation during and immediately after smoking a cigarette" (Pell). I disagree because it may be relaxing at the moment, but it is not worth all the awful effects that smoking provides. To prove this, the article written by Synthia L. Rose says, "These herbs may have the power to ease pain… but some can produce mildly hallucinogenic moments that can be dangerous if precautions are not taken." The relaxation is temporary, but the effects of smoking are long-lasting. All of that could be avoided if smoking is outlawed.
Overall, smoking should be banned because it is harmful and toxic to the body and has disastrous consequences to other people. People tend to avoid smokers to eliminate the risk of inhaling the harmful smoke. Smoking exhausts and damages the lungs, and is a big cause of infections and diseases such as lung cancer or shortness of breath. Smoking causes too many problems and needs to be gone.
