By Melanie Weber and Sophia Giovaniello
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 443,000 people die each year due to smoking cigarettes or exposure to second-hand smoke. Among these deaths, 90 percent of lung cancer deaths and 80 percent of emphysema and chronic bronchitis deaths are all caused by tobacco use. In addition, of the 7 billion people in the world, 8.6 million live with serious illnesses caused from smoking.
So why is tobacco sale still legal?
In Westminster Massachusetts, all tobacco sales have recently been banned in order to improve public health. CVS Pharmacies have also stopped selling tobacco products nationally, hoping that other chain pharmacies will follow in their footsteps. Also, Twenty-one colleges in Massachusetts including Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst have already become smoke-free environments. In Walpole, Betro Pharmacy has forbidden the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products as well. Should Walpole— like Westminster— stop the sale of cigarettes completely?
What makes cigarettes so dangerous? The 7,000 chemicals they contain in which 69 are are carcinogens. As most are aware, cigarettes contain nicotine, an addictive drug. When inhaling cigarette smoke, nicotine reaches the brain faster than drugs that enter the body intravenously, making smoking a difficult habit to break.
Not only does smoking harm the user but it endangers the community as well. Second hand smoke is responsible for 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in non-smoker adults in the United States, as well as 7,500–15,000 hospitalizations annually. It is not fair that people who do not want to use tobacco products are still affected by it.
The best solution to creating a healthier society is to simply ban the sale of tobacco products all together. Today, 80 percent of smokers say they want to quit, and 50 percent try to quit every year. By forbidding tobacco sale, the communities would be aiding these smokers in achieving their goal, as they would be unable to purchase tobacco locally. Also, by eliminating the sale of tobacco, young adolescents will not be tempted to purchase it.
Smoking also greatly affects pregnancies. Nicotine and carbon monoxide work together to reduce the baby’s source of oxygen which can cause stillbirth, premature births, and low birth weight. Furthermore, babies of mothers who smoked during their first trimester of pregnancy are 20 to 70 percent more likely to be born with heart defects at birth. It is just not right to expose babies to this many health risks where they could be inescapably doomed for life.
But its not just cigarettes causing all of the harm. Chewing tobacco and other forms of non smoking tobacco are harmful too. There are 7,600 oral cancer related deaths in the United States each year in which 75 percent are due to smokeless tobacco. In addition, smokeless tobacco contains 28 carcinogens. One’s risk of oral cancer is 50 percent more likely if he or she uses smokeless tobacco.
Communities must not let cigarettes be sold in our stores because too many lives have been cut short due to tobacco use. Some Walpole store-owners have already taken the challenge to ban the sale once and for all. Others should follow their lead.
