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Dmytro Taranovsky
January 12, 2000; modified July 29, 2002
Thesis: Most nonsmokers suffer from secondary smoke. Allowing the people to force others not to smoke in their presence would solve the problem.
Tobacco smoke is a very dangerous poison. It contains at least 43 carcinogens. Smoking, on average, quadruples the chance of oral and laryngeal cancer. It also increases the chance of cancer in organs not involved in smoking, such as stomach. Smoking also significantly increases the chance of emphysema. It contributes to heart disease and many respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis. Smoking causes lung cancer: It causes 87% of lung cancers, and 27% of all cancer deaths are from lung cancer.
There is no difference between inhaling one's own smoke and someone else's smoke except that in most cases one's own smoke is more concentrated. Thus, the effects described above apply to the secondary smoke. Almost everyone is exposed to the secondary smoke. Secondary smoke causes thousands of American deaths every year: "Each year about 3000 nonsmoking adults die of lung cancer as a result of breathing the second-hand smoke from others' cigarettes."[1] These people die because they were repeatedly poisoned by the smoke without their consent: They are murdered except that the acts by the smokers are legal.
The proposed law will eliminate that. Moreover, it will significantly reduce smoking. Below is a part by part examination and explanation of the law.
Section 1: In all public places and in workplace, any person may require any other person not to smoke if the smoke affects the first person. Except when breathing smoked air is necessary for job performance, no employment contract may require a person to accept smoking and no employee may be punished for not accepting smoking.
Justification: The proposed law states that people in public places have a right not to be poisoned or having to move to an inferior place. The right not to be poisoned is an essential right. Thus, the law will be very beneficial to those who do not smoke. Since the law is likely to decrease smoking in public places and thus smoking in general, it is beneficial for smokers. The law can be enforced since at least one person (and often several) is a victim and a witness.
People in the workplace are given many rights, such as having at least the minimum wage. The right not to be poisoned should be one of them. The last sentence is needed to prevent employers from indirectly circumventing the law.
Section 2: No person may smoke if he or she knows or should know that the smoke is affecting a person under the age of 18.
Justification: As described above, a person has the right to prevent other people from putting smoke in the person's lungs. People under the age of 18 are forbidden to smoke. Thus, they do not have a right to choose whether to create and inhale cigarette smoke. That is they should not have a right to choose on whether to inhale someone's smoke: They should not have a right to give consent to secondhand smoke. Thus, if a person knows that a minor inhales his or her smoke, the person knows that this is without consent, and the person should be required to stop smoking. Note: Certain limited exceptions may be added to this section.
An important place where children are exposed to the secondary smoke is their home. Smoke is particularly damaging to children since they are developing. Secondary smoke can cause severe respiratory disorders and hinder lung growth. These effects are often permanent (last for a lifetime).[2] Each year, secondary smoke "causes up to 300,000 children to suffer from lower tract respiratory infection."[3] Thus, parents who smoke much in the presence of their children make the children handicapped. This should not be allowed. Additionally, "The most common situation for first trying a cigarette is with a friend who already smokes" [4] The law may eliminate the cause since children will no longer be exposed to smoke (at least legally).
Section 3: No person may smoke if the smoke interferes with private territory or property without prior consent of the owner(s). The owner(s) may not give the consent if he/she/they know(s) or should know that a child will inhale the smoke. If the situation changes such that a child will be exposed to the smoke, the owner(s) must revoke the consent.
This section is already justified by the justifications for the sections 1 and 2: An owner of a private territory should have a right not to be poisoned. From the point of view of this section, the most important type of private property is apartments. Due to poor ventilation, smoke often moves from one apartment to another. The last two sentences of the section are needed to ensure that children in apartments are not chronically exposed to tobacco smoke from other apartments
Section 4 is for the enforcement of the law. It states:
Violators of Sections 1-3 are responsible for the damage (including emotional and indirect damage) they had made and reasonable investigation, attorney, and court costs and sentenced accordingly.
Section 5 states:
No pregnant woman may smoke. No pregnant woman may purposefully inhale smoke to achieve its effects. All pregnant women must take reasonable action to prevent inhaling smoke if they are exposed to a large amount of secondary smoke. The courts shall provide an appropriate punishment for the people who violate the law. The section does not apply if the woman has no good evidence that she is pregnant.
Justification: "Other research has shown that mothers who smoke give birth more frequently to premature or underweight babies, probably because of a decrease in blood flow to the placenta."[5] Every year, 5 million years of potential lifetime is destroyed by premature deaths from smoking.[6] Thus, smoking pregnant women negatively affect their children through smoking. This should not be permitted since according to the justification of section 2, mothers should not have a right to damage their child.
Section 6: The courts may order people who are found repeatedly violating this law (expect the owner for violating section 3 and the employer for violating sentence 2 of section 1) not to smoke. Every person who is, because of this law, forced not to smoke must be provided an appropriate treatment free of charge. If necessary or if requested by the violator, the treatment center will detain him (and treat him well during the detainment) during the withdrawal period.
Justification: This section is necessary for effective enforcement and reduction of smoking. Heavy nicotine addicts might not be able to control their smoking. Causing them not to smoke would prevent the repeated violations. It would also benefit the smokers since smoking is bad. Simply forbidding smoking for those people would not be very effective since they are not able to control their smoking. The treatment centers will help them to do that. For some, even some lessons to help quitting smoking may not be enough. However, their detainment during the withdrawal period will ensure that they will not restart smoking because of their addiction to nicotine, a mental illness. The section implies that the people who are required to stop smoking but do not do so can be forced to participate in a reasonable treatment center or (if the people refuse treatment) be put in jail.
Additionally, children who smoke are violating section 2 of the proposed law. Thus, if they are repeatedly caught smoking, they can be made not to smoke, which is an effective measure since others failed. For the maximum benefit of the law, it is essential that everyone participates in its enforcement. Lack of condemnation of criminals is one of the main reasons why some laws are poorly enforced. Similar laws should be passed in most private places such as restaurants. The first sentence of section 1 cannot be extended to private places since accepting smoke may be a condition of admittance to the property. In some private places, the laws already exist.
Appendix:
Author of the proposed law: Dmytro Taranovsky
Date: January 12, 2000; slightly modified on July 29, 2002.
A law to restrict smoking when it interferes with other people:
Section 1: In all public places and in workplace, any person may require any other person not to smoke if the smoke affects the first person. Except when breathing smoke is necessary for job performance, no employment contract may require a person to accept smoking and no employee may be punished for not accepting smoking.
Section 2: No person may smoke if he or she knows or should know that the smoke is affecting a person under the age of 18.
Section 3: No person may smoke if the smoke interferes with private territory or property without prior consent of the owner(s). The owner(s) may not give the consent if he/she/they know(s) or should know that a child will inhale the smoke. If the situation changes such that a child will be exposed to the smoke, the owner(s) must revoke the consent.
Section 4: Violators of Sections 1-3 are responsible for the damage (including emotional and indirect damage) they had made and reasonable investigation, attorney, and court costs and sentenced accordingly.
Section 5: No pregnant woman may smoke. No pregnant woman may purposefully inhale smoke to achieve its effects. All pregnant women must take reasonable action to prevent inhaling smoke if they are exposed to a large amount of secondary smoke. The courts shall provide an appropriate punishment for the people who violate the law. The section does not apply if the woman has no good evidence that she is pregnant.
Section 6: The courts may order people who are found repeatedly violating this law (expect the owner for violating section 3 and the employer for violating sentence 2 of section 1) not to smoke. Every person who is, because of this law, forced not to smoke must be provided an appropriate treatment free of charge. If necessary or if requested by the violator, the treatment center will detain him (and treat him well during the detainment) during the withdrawal period.
[1]"Tobacco," Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
[2] From http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/research_data/environmental/etsfact3.htm
[3] http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/overview/oshaag.htm
[4] http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_1994/94oshaag.htm
[5]"Smoking," Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
[6] http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/research_data/health_consequences/mortali.htm