My 12 Year Old Gets It: Kassy's Argumentative Research Paper

Below is Kassy's essay on her view about second hand smoking in public. I applaud my girl for her stance! As the mother of an asthmatic child, I've seen firsthand the effect that cigarette smoke can have: wheezing as we played in our neighborhood pool and another mother enjoyed her cigarette on the other side of the fence, coughing as we enter grocery stores because we had to walk through a wall of smoke brought on by employees on a smoke break. For the smokers it's their choice and they accept the consequences. For my daughter and many others it's an unnecessary health risk forced upon them by others.

Kassy's made me think. I've come to the decision that from now on whenever I enter a place of business and am forced to walk through the afore mentioned walls of smoke, my visit will be followed up with a letter, e-mail, or call to that company. I think employers should take responsibility for their employees actions and should be notified when those actions harm others. If you agree, I encourage you to do the same. Now, enough from me, here's what Kassy has to say...

Have you ever walked out of a store or the exit at work and seen someone smoking? If you have you probably took a breath of their smoke when you really didn’t mean to. There was no way to avoid it because the person was right there. That smoke was called secondhand smoke and can be harmful to your body. To avoid an accident like this, states should have designated smoking areas away from the entrances and exits and other areas in public so others will be protected from secondhand smoke. 

Secondhand smoke can do many harmful things to your body, but one of the worst is cancer. You don’t need to breath in secondhand smoke all the time, every day to cause cancer. Brief exposure can be all it takes to set cancer in motion. Last year it was estimated that 3,400 deaths from lung cancer were caused by secondhand smoke.

Cancer is not the only harmful effect of second hand smoke. It also can cause heart disease. People who are exposed to smoke at work have their risks increased by 25% - 30%. Brief exposure can also damage the lining of the blood vessels in the throat. People with asthma are at risk for an asthma attack when exposed to smoke.

The state of Georgia and most other states in the South only have laws against smoking inside work buildings or public buildings. That law only protects you inside, but outside you are susceptible to the harmful smoke. Since there are no laws for outside, people can smoke where ever they want. My opinion is that there should be a place at least 50 feet from the entrance to a building for people to smoke.

Some may say that smoking isn’t illegal and that the government has no right to limit their smoking. No, smoking isn’t illegal, but smoking is a choice you make for yourself. Smoking is harmful to your body and when you smoke around other people you are harming them which you have no right to do. A designated smoking area would not limit their smoking at all. It’s simply moving the place they smoke away from other people.

Now you see the damage secondhand smoke can do and the few laws protecting us from it. People who want to live a healthy life should not have to suffer because of someone else’s decision to smoke. Instituting smoking areas would not be a hard thing to do and would not limit a person’s right to smoke. This simple solution just might put us on the road to a healthier nation.

                                    BIBLIOGRAPHY

“List of Smoking Bans in the United States.” Wikipedia. 2011. 6 February 2012. <en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_United_States>

Molynea, George. “Smoking Ban in public places.” Ideabate. 2 September 2006. International Debate Association. 6 February 2012. <www.ideabate.org/debabase/topic_details.php?topic ID = 526>

            Silverstien, Alvan. Smoking. Toronto: Scholastic, 2003.

“Smoking and Tobacco Use.” CDC. 21 March 2011. Centers for Disease and Prevention.6 February. /<www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/factsheet/secondhand_smoke/health-effects >

“Smokers have rights; non-smokers do too.” The North Jefferson News’. 15 June 2011. 6 February 2012.