LETTER: Stop smoking in my face

Editor,

Hundreds of thousands of people are dying each year due to lung cancer, which is primarily attributed to cigarette smoking. The worst part is that some of these people are dying of lung cancer, which they developed through second-hand smoke.

There are approximately 50 million smokers in America. So, let’s say they each only smoke four cigarettes a day, that is 200 million cigarettes smoked in a single day! And we wonder why the air quality is so bad?

People argue that it’s an individual’s choice whether to smoke or not. However, as I recently learned in my economics class, when not all the effects of a decision are internalized, it warrants intervention. Or in other words, when other people have to suffer the effects of a person’s decision, the government has a right to get involved.

When people smoke in public places, they are not the only ones taking that smoke into their lungs. If you have gone your entire life and never breathed in a single ounce of someone else’s cigarette smoke, please tell me how you have done it, because as far as I know, that’s impossible. I fail to understand why I should have to breathe smoke, just because someone else decided they wanted to.

Let’s say you were at a store as it was being robbed. The police come and arrest you, even though you had nothing to do with the crime. Wouldn’t you consider that a violation of your rights? This is the same principle; innocent people are forced to suffer the consequences of other’s actions.

Fortunately though, there is a solution. Recently, there has been a new act proposed called the Clean Air Act. One of the things it does is prohibit smoking in public places. New York and many other states have already adopted this act. Wouldn’t it be nice to walk out of a grocery store, or the TSC for that matter, without getting a nice lung full of smoke? It may always remain a dream, but it is one I will always hope for.

Ginger Bailey