Up in Smoke

Up in Smoke

According to U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, levels of cotinine, a biological marker of second hand smoke exposure, were present in an estimated 22 million children aged 3-11 years old, a level almost twice as high as nonsmoking adults, and was present in over 18 million youth ages 12-19 in the year 2008. If recent smoking bans in work and public places have been put in place, then why are these numbers so startling high? Almost 50% of American children live with a smoker. (Melbourne). Shown in recent studies, tobacco causes certain diseases such as bronchitis, pneumonia, cough, ear infections, and worsens pre-existing diseases, especially asthma. The carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemicals known to be in tobacco smoke cause a defect in human DNA that leads to lung cancer, the second leading killer in the United States, second only to heart disease. Pain, stress, and suffering from these ailments are child abuse and can be prevented. Smoking in the home with a child present is not only dangerous, but can and will cause irreversible damage to their bodies, which is a form of abuse, and should therefore be illegal.

The smoking of the tobacco plant originated in central and northern Mexico, where tobacco was stuffed in hollow reeds and smoked and later spread through the Americas, where different cultures wrapped their tobacco in vegetable leaves, corn husks, or pipes. In sixteenth century Seville, Spain, beggars developed the first cigarette rolled in paper by collecting discarded cigar butts, shredding them, and rolling it in paper. Although at first the Spanish elite discarded the idea as ‘recycled garbage', cigarettes gained popularity in the 18th century ("Cigarette"). As the popularity of cigarettes increased, so did the cultivation of tobacco. John Rolfe of Virginia began the cultivation of tobacco in the English colonies, and it became the first and most important export. World War I and II skyrocketed the use of cigarettes as the ‘Soldier's Smoke'. Resulting from the Surgeon General's report "Smoking and Health", health warnings were printed on cigarette packages in 1966. Beginning in the 1980s, many lawsuits against tobacco companies began surfacing and smoking became "politically and socially incorrect" ("Cigarette"). Now, cigarette commercials are banned from television, radio, and some printed sources. Smoking is banned within ten feet of stores, offices, or any other public premise in an effort to protect the public.

Secondhand smoke, tobacco smoke that has either been exhaled from a smoker's lungs or smoke coming off from the burning end of a cigarette, contains, "more than 250 chemicals known to be deadly, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide" (Benjamin). These chemicals are the same ones that are in such products as rat poison, insecticides,