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Smoke Clearing from Public Places
By Vicki Doyal
Feb 5, 2009 - 8:39:54 AM

  Arizona and California were two of the first states to step up and outlaw smoking in public places and have stuck with it closely. Perhaps other states should start to take notice of these state’s examples and maybe we could all stop involuntarily taking in the poison from the air that we have to breathe.

It happens all the time. We are standing in line at a fast food restaurant, watching the kids play in the play area while their parents watch them closely from inside and have to suffer with the smell of second hand smoke. The smoke snakes its way through our lungs and affects our hearts.

We’ve been dealing with it for far too long now. Wherever we seem to go, there’s someone there that feels like they have to bust out their cigarette package, as if on cue, and take a smoke in a public place whether others have to suffer. In fact, according to Journal Watch, it was proven that in the year 2004, over 4.8 billion people in the world smoke and most of them aren’t afraid to do it in a public place where they could harm hundreds of peoples’ lungs. So how come we have done anything about it? It’s wrong.

It’s not required that you take a smoke whenever you’re around others, it’s nothing more than an addiction; however, you have to breathe so why should people be forced to take precious seconds off their lives just because one person could resist a cigarette long enough to sit down and eat or while waiting in an airport? They can, they just stupidly choose not to.

But maybe it’s not so bad. Maybe second hand smoke really isn’t that harmful to us after all and the only ones really suffering are those that are actually smoking the cigarette. Wrong. Just like any other type of tobacco product, caner is the major health concern with second hand smoke and these smokers aren’t helping our healthy lungs.

In fact, according to BBC News, some people admitted that they would avoid any bars or places that allowed public smoking due to the smell of it. It was a major turn off for them, and their lungs, so they would decide to take their business elsewhere, where they could enjoy the clean, smoke-free air. And with good reason, in my opinion.

Those that have been exposed to secondhand smoke face serious itching of the eyes, nose and throat and even pregnant women, who had to breathe in the toxins from the air around smokers, had to deal with the miscarriages and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. It’s estimated that there are 30,000 deaths a year relating to secondhand smoke and all of them were due to people’s addictions to having cigarettes in public.

Several smoking bands, in states such as Kansas and Indiana, have set up laws in the past that would affect the entire state, but all two or three of the bans have failed. These states have allowed certain cities to make their own rules for smoking bans, instead of making them entirely statewide. However, there are still some smoking bans that are up in the air that could start affecting a few select states statewide, but for now, they are only being watched carefully until they are posed to the Senate.

Thankfully, more cities are moving away from smoking in public places, both for the health of the people living in the city and the air that we have to breathe. Not all of them are ready to give up their addiction for us that can’t tolerate their disgusting habit, but I’m sure we’re all holding our breath and waiting for the day when we can go to a public place and not be suffocated by the smoke.