Essay Sample: Production and Sales of Tobacco (or Vaping) Must be Made Illegal

The use of tobacco has resulted in many problems in people’s lives including both health and environmental impacts. Although the majority of tobacco producers have invested a lot in the industry and provided high taxes to the government, the risks that are associated with its use have increased (“American Lung Association”). Many people have succumbed to chronic diseases such as asthma and cancer which in turn results to death. For the past few decades, the perception of cigarette smoking has changed and people have become aware of the risks associated with its use, however, many teens especially school children have been involved with it in the United States (“American Lung Association”). Therefore, there is a high need for the government to intervene and ban its production and sale. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the possible reasons that will lead to the illegalization of the production and sale of Tobacco.

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Despite everybody knowing that tobacco use is bad, not everyone has realized the dangers it causes to the body of the user. Tobacco causes health problems to users thus making them suffer from chronic related diseases. According to “American Cancer Society” emphasized that the use of tobacco leads to many different forms of cancer because smoking is responsible for nearly thirty percent of the overall cancer-related deaths in the United States. Furthermore, smoking cigarettes leads to lung cancer (“American Lung Association”). Tobacco use damages the lungs in stages and before the victim realizes it will have already reached a severe stage. The effects begin immediately a person starts taking in Tobacco and it starts by harming the airways and small air sacs in the lungs, then the lungs roles continue to deteriorate when an individual persists in smoking. Remarkably, it will take a long time before the lung disease can become perceptible for it to be diagnosed.

The cardiovascular system is also affected by tobacco use, especially the blood vessels and the heart. The effects result in increased chances of stroke and heart disease. The majority of smokers are unable to perform physical exercise such as walking and running because of the increased blood pressure that raises their risks of blood clotting (“American Cancer Society”). With high risks of peripheral arterial diseases which are developed in the arteries that carry blood to the head and limbs, it can destroy the blood circulation system thus triggering pain in legs while walking as well as lead sores that are unable to heal. Another reason for making Tobacco production and sales illegal is the health effects it causes on the reproductive system, especially to women. A larger percentage of women who are involved in Tobacco use suffer from reproductive health with cases of incapability of being pregnant or when having they have many challenges that can wound both the child and mother (“American Lung Association”). For example, many women smokers are more likely to have serious bleeding and premature deliveries as well as miscarriages and babies who are underweight.

Tobacco use causes increased death in the United States either directly or indirectly. Therefore, when the production and sales are illegalized, people succumbing to deaths related to such use will be reduced. With every year individuals who die due to tobacco-related diseases and use being over 480,000 in the United States, it indicates that every year tobacco leads to one out of five deaths (“Campaign for Tobacco”). According to the article “Why Ban the Sale of Cigarettes? The Case for abolition” by Proctor, argued that tobacco resulted in the deaths of one hundred million individuals, however, more are going to die due to negligence and lack of knowledge in the 21st century. Although the rate of use is declining significantly, it is estimated that approximately three hundred deaths in this century were caused by Tobacco. Therefore, to reduce the high number of deaths caused by Tobacco use illegalization is the best option.

Smoking results in more deaths than accidents, suicides, alcohol and AIDS together per year in the United States. According to “Campaign for Tobacco”, many children especially high school students are involved in tobacco use, and therefore currently over two hundred thousand children convert to be new systematic daily smokers every year. Thus, nearly a third will have to be killed by tobacco use, besides, many individuals involved in the use lose ten years due to smoking ("American Cancer Society"). With sixteen million individuals in the United States in the anguish of tobacco use diseases, 5.6 million children who are under the age of eighteen will ultimately succumb to death due to smoking if nothing is done about the production and sales of tobacco (“Campaign for Tobacco”).

The production and sale of tobacco also lead to a financial load to private and public treasuries. According to Proctor argued that the use of tobacco has led to a financial burden which is used in the treatment of tobacco-related diseases. Furthermore, it has also led to increased fiscal losses from decreased labor productivity as well as increasing the rate of poverty in the world. Every year the government and private financial agencies spend about $170 million in taking care of health-related issues caused by smoking (“Campaign for Tobacco”). Besides, they added that both the state and federal administration use 39.6 billion dollars for Medicaid payments due to smoking, while the federal administration spends $45 billion and $23.8 billion in Medicare spending and other general health care charges due to tobacco use respectively (“Campaign for Tobacco”).

Despite financial losses being significant in the health care cost of tobacco-related use, it has also increased monetary losses in the production industry. Many people are involved in activities that yield money for the country and thus progress the national economy. However, when these people are involved in the use of tobacco, they will have to cease their jobs due to chronic diseases or even death. For instance, according to “Campaign for Tobacco” financial productivity losses caused by the death of people using tobacco is estimated to be $151 billion. The productivity losses comprise of cleaning and maintenance, housing and commercial assets that have been destroyed due to fire caused by smoking and social security insurance for children left due to the death of at least one parent due to tobacco use. The same source has also presented that tobacco industries use approximately $9.1 billion on advertisement per year and children are considered to be more sensitive at three times more than adults. Tobacco advertisement inspires children to be involved in cigarette smoking more than peer pressure. Therefore, through the illegalization of the production and sale of tobacco advertisements, children will not become influenced and thus they will focus on developing their careers.

The natural environment is affected by the production and sale of tobacco in diverse ways. Despite the manufacturing process utilizing the scarce resources available during planting, spicing, rolling, wrapping, distribution and marketing, it has also instigated problems to the environment through the use of insecticides and deforestation (Proctor). Many forests including savannah woodlands have been destroyed to get the charcoal required for slue curing. In addition, the same source argued that the use of cigarette results in the production of greenhouse gas. Similarly, Root argued that poor disposal of cigarette butts’ results in environmental damage because they result in plastic pollution. Moreover, with people purchasing approximately 6.5 trillion cigarettes annually, only the paper wrapping crumble when smoked, however, the filter will remain and only a third is predicted to disintegrate (Root). Furthermore, the butts are made from plastic referred to as cellulose acetate and therefore when absorbed to the environment then flowing to the water bodies, it will cause increased risks to marine animals especially when they eat them. Cigarette filter also hinders plant growth. Similarly, e-cigarettes lead to a plastic problem because the pods have to be washed before being thrown away.

Conclusion

In summation, several negative impacts are related to the use of tobacco, including health risks such as contracting chronic diseases and environmental damage. Although users of tobacco have a different view of its use, they need to understand the side effects. Furthermore, the only way to eradicate the deaths attributed to the use of tobacco is through illegalizing it as soon as possible. Tobacco production and sale have resulted in many school children involving themselves in its use and thus losing focus about the careers as well as reducing their life expectancy by a decade. Also, illegalizing tobacco production and sale will be reducing the financial losses incurred by federal and state governments to cater to Medicare and Medicaid programs as well as increase their production in the economy.

Works Cited

Root, Tik. “Cigarette butts are toxic plastic pollution. Should they be banned?” National Geographic, 09 August 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/cigarettes-story-of-plastic/#close

Proctor, Robert N. “Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition.” Tobacco Control, 22 May 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3632991/

“Health Risks of Smoking Tobacco.” American Cancer Society, 15 November 2018, https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/tobacco-and-cancer/health-risks-of-smoking-tobacco.html

“The Toll of Tobacco in the United States.” Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 15 January 2020, https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-us

“10 of the Worst Diseases Smoking Causes.” American Lung Association, 28 May 2020, https://www.lung.org/research/sotc/by-the-numbers/10-worst-diseases-smoking-causes