second hand smoking
I stumbled out of the building, coughing and wheezing, smoke filling my eyes and lungs. I tugged frantically at my tie to loosen my collar, my head pounding as I ran out the door. ...fresh….air….gotta….have….fresh…..air… Was it a fire? Terrorist attack? No, I was simply eating my dinner when a gentleman at the table next to us decided to light up a cigarette. The smoke went right in my face and lungs. All of a sudden I couldn't breathe, my chest hurt and I panicked. Ladies and gentlemen, by the end of this year more people will die from second hand smoke related deaths than the average crowd at a Major League Baseball game. Secondhand, or passive smoke, is an insidious killer that is harming adults, and more critically, children around the country every day. My goal in speaking to you today is to enlist your support in a federal ban of all smoking from all public places without hesitation. But isn't this America? Should you have the right to smoke? If I want to pollute my lungs and ruin my health why should that be any concern of yours? The facts are that secondhand smoke is responsible for many of the same diseases as if you were sucking on the cigarette yourself. These diseases include cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases. For example, the International Agency on Research on Cancer found that “involuntary smoking is carcinogenic to humans." Various studies in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom point to a significant increase in risk of lung cancer among those exposed to passive smoke. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The California Environmental Protection Agency found that passive smoking increases the risk of breast cancer in young women by 70%. In a separate paper, the US Surgeon General found that there was evidence that suggested that there was a causal relationship between smoking and breast cancer. Secondhand smoke is even associated with the loss of hearing in non-smoking adults. What? What did