When sitting in a restaurant or a pub no one who is not a smoker wants to be exposed to the polluted air from cigarettes, especially if they are eating. That's why all smoking in enclosed public areas needs to be banned, completely. People have tried to modify things but its just not good enough. The risks of lung cancer are still increasing rapidly and many people are dying from secondhand smoke. .
Each year approximately 53,000 people die from secondhand smoke from cigarettes. Of those 53,000 3,000 of them are deaths of lung cancer. (Garrison, 44) That means that every student, faculty and staff member of Stebbins High School, if not more, would be wiped out by lung cancer in one year. Sounds a little ridiculous doesn't it? Well what about the one million children whose asthma conditions worsen from secondhand smoke? Or the 300,000 children under the age of 18 months, who breathe in secondhand smoke (not by choice), get pneumonia and bronchitis? (USEPA, 33) Passive smoking is the third leading cause of premature death in the U.S., exceeded only by alcohol and direct smoking. (Randolph D. Smoak Jr., 129) The United States Environmental Protection Agency, U.S department of Health and Human Services, the National Cancer Institute, and the Surgeon General Organization have all done much research to find this evidence to be true. Not only does smoking affect others around the smoker but it also harms the smoker very badly. It is very common for a person who smokes to be more likely to end up with bronchitis, laryngitis, pharyngitis, sinusitis or some degree of emphysema than someone who doesn't. (Harrison, 33) .
So what should we do? Well, there are a few modifications that have already been made by the government. They believe there would be great health gains and smokers may stop smoking. The government wants to make rapid progress towards increasing the number of smoke-free pubs and restaurants.