argumentative essay about cigarette smoking brainly

Should Smoking Be Illegal?

Should smoking be banned? What are the pros and cons of banning cigarettes in public places? If you’re writing an argumentative essay or persuasive speech on why smoking should be banned, check out this sample.

Smoking Should Be Banned: Essay Introduction

Reasons why smoking should be banned, why smoking should not be banned: essay arguments, why smoking should be banned essay conclusion.

Smoking involves burning a substance to take in its smoke into the lungs. These substances are commonly tobacco or cannabis. Combustion releases the active substances in them, like nicotine, which are absorbed through the lungs.

A widespread technique through which this is done is via smoking manufactured cigarettes or hand-rolling the tobacco ready for smoking. Almost 1 billion people in the majority of all human societies practice smoking. Complications directly associated with smoking claim the lives of half of all the persons involved in smoking tobacco or marijuana for a long time.

Smoking is an addiction because tobacco contains nicotine, which is very addictive. The nicotine makes it difficult for a smoker to quit. Therefore, a person will become used to nicotine such that he/she has to smoke to feel normal. Consequently, I think smoking should be banned for some reason.

One reason why smoking should be banned is that it has got several health effects. It harms almost every organ of the body. Cigarette smoking causes 87% of lung cancer deaths and is also responsible for many other cancer and health problems. 

Apart from this, infant deaths that occur in pregnant women are attributed to smoking. Similarly, people who stay near smokers become secondary smokers, who may breathe in the smoke and get the same health problems as smokers. Although not widely smoked, cannabis also has health problems, and withdrawal symptoms include depression, insomnia, frustration, anger, anxiety, concentration difficulties, and restlessness.

Besides causing emphysema, smoking also affects the digestive organs and the blood circulatory systems, especially heart arteries. Women have a higher risk of heart attack than men, exacerbating with time as one smokes. Smoking also affects the mouth, whereby the teeth become discolored, the lips blacken and always stay dry, and the breath smells bad.

Cigarette and tobacco products are costly. People who smoke are therefore forced to spend their money on these products, which badly wastes the income they would have otherwise spent on other things. Therefore, I think that smoking should be forbidden to reduce the costs of treating diseases related to smoking and the number of deaths caused by smoking-related illnesses.

However, tobacco and cigarette manufacturing nations would lose a lot if smoking was to be banned. I, therefore, think that it should not be banned. Some nations largely depend on exporting cigarettes and tobacco products to get revenue.

This revenue typically boosts the economy of such nations. If smoking were banned, they would incur significant losses since tobacco companies are multi-billion organizations. Apart from these, millions of people will be jobless due to the ban.

The process by which tobacco and cigarette products reach consumers is very complex, and it involves a chain process with several people involved in it. Banning smoking, therefore, means these people will lose their jobs, which most may depend on for their livelihoods.

In conclusion, the ban on smoking is a tough step to be undertaken, especially when the number of worldwide users is billions. Although it burdens nations enormously in treating smoking-related diseases, it may take a long time before a ban can work. Attempts by some nations to do this have often been met with failures.

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Tobacco Smoking and Its Dangers Essay

Introduction, the dangers of smoking, possible pro-tobacco arguments, annotated bibliography.

Tobacco use, including smoking, has become a universally recognized issue that endangers the health of the population of our entire planet through both active and second-hand smoking. Pro-tobacco arguments are next to non-existent, while its harm is well-documented and proven through past and contemporary studies (Jha et al., 2013). Despite this fact, smoking remains a widespread habit that involves about one billion smokers all over the world, even though lower-income countries are disproportionally affected (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016). In this essay, I will review the dangers of tobacco use and consider some of the remaining pro-tobacco arguments to demonstrate that no reason can explain or support the choice to smoke, which endangers the smoker and other people.

Almost every organ and system in the human body is negatively affected by tobacco, which is why smoking is reported to cause up to six million deaths on an annual basis (WHO, 2016, para. 2). The figure is expected to grow and increase by two million within the next fifteen years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016a). Smoking can cause cancer in at least sixteen organs (including the respiratory and digestive systems), autoimmune diseases (including diabetes), numerous heart and blood problems (including stroke and hypertension); in addition, it damages lungs, vision, and bones, and leads to reproductive issues (including stillbirth) (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2016).

Moreover, nicotine is addictive, and its withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, which tends to cumulate and contribute to stress (Parrott & Murphy, 2012). Other symptoms may involve mood swings and increased hunger, as well as thinking difficulties (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016b). Sufficient evidence also indicates that smoking is correlated with alcohol use and that it is capable of affecting one’s mental state to the point of heightening the risks of development of disorders (Cavazos-Rehg et al., 2014).

In the end, smoking reduces the human lifespan, as a result of which smokers are twice as likely as non-smokers to die between the ages of 25 and 79 (Jha et al., 2013, p. 341). Fortunately, smoking cessation tends to add up to ten years of life for former smokers, if they were to give up smoking before they turned 40 (Jha et al., 2013, p. 349). Similarly, the risk of developing mental issues also tends to be reversed to an extent, but it is not clear if it becomes completely eliminated or not (Cavazos-Rehg et al., 2014). The CDC (2016b) also reports that smoking cessation results in an improved respiratory condition and lower risks of developing cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and infertility.

At the same time, Cavazos-Rehg et al. (2014) state that there is not sufficient evidence to indicate that smoking cessation may cause mental issues, which implies that ceasing to smoke is likely to be a very good decision. Unfortunately, it is not always easy; many people make several attempts at quitting, experiencing difficulties because of abstinence symptoms, and in the process may gain weight and may require the help of professional doctors and counselors (CDC, 2016b). It is also noteworthy that only twenty-four countries in the world have comprehensive services aimed specifically at smoking cessation assistance (WHO, 2016, para. 18).

To sum up, tobacco is a drug that is harmful to people’s health, but it is also the basis of a gigantic industry that is subject to taxes, which implies that governments are typically interested in its development (CDC, 2016a). As a result, their spending in the field of prevention and cessation activities may not live up to expectations, despite the fact that governments have multiple means of reducing tobacco consumption, in particular, banning ads, adding taxes, and eliminating illicit trade (WHO, 2016). In the meantime, people who smoke search for arguments in order to rationalize their choice, which contributes to the deterioration of their own health and that of their communities.

It Is Not That Dangerous

It is admittedly difficult to find a reputable source that would promote smoking, which is understandable. However, certain pro-tobacco arguments can be suggested for the sake of attempting to understand the reasons for the phenomenon. For example, given the obvious lack of positive judgments, it may be hinted that the problem is overrated and the horrors of tobacco use are exaggerated. In this case, it is implied that scientific studies that highlight the dangers of smoking are not trustworthy to some extent. In fact, it cannot be denied that untrustworthy studies exist, but the scientific community does its best to eliminate them.

For example, the article by Moylan, Jacka, Pasco, and Berk (2012) contains a critique of 47 studies, which allows the authors to conclude that some research studies do not introduce sufficient controls. Despite this, the authors maintain that there is satisfactory evidence that indicates a correlation between certain mental disorders and smoking. They also admit that the evidence is less homogenous for some disorders, and suggest carrying out a further examination. As a result, it appears possible to consider the effects of tobacco use that are described by reputable organizations and peer-reviewed articles to be correct, which implies that all the horrible outcomes are indeed a possibility.

Tobacco Has Positive Effects

Given the information about tobacco’s negative effects, any number of positive ones that it may have appears insignificant. However, these may still be regarded as a pro-tobacco argument. One example is a calming, “feeling-good” effect that smokers tend to report. Parrott and Murphy (2012) explore this phenomenon, along with other mood-related effects of tobacco use, and explain that the feeling of calmness is the result of abstinence symptoms abatement.

In other words, smokers do not experience calmness when they get a cigarette; instead, they just stop experiencing abstinence-related anxiety. Moreover, apart from causing anxiety as an abstinence symptom, smoking tends to heighten the risks of various mental disorders, including anxiety disorder (Moylan et al., 2012), and alcohol use disorder (Cavazos-Rehg et al., 2014). It may be suggested that the belief in the positive effects of smoking is likely to result from the lack of education on the matter (WHO, 2016).

It Is My Free Choice

The freedom of choice is important to defend, and some may argue that they like the taste of the smoke or enjoy some of its effects (like the above-mentioned calming one), and they have the right to make a choice with regard to what they are going to do with their lives. Unfortunately, there is a factor that makes their choice more socially significant: Second-hand smoke intake also can affect people’s health in a negative way.

WHO (2016) estimates that about 600,000 non-smoking people, who never chose to smoke but were forced to inhale some second-hand smoke, die every year because of smoking-related issues (para. 2). In 2004, twenty-eight percent of second-hand smoke victims were children (WHO, 2016, para. 14). In other words, a smoker needs to be cautious and attempt to ensure that no deaths are caused by his or her free choice.

Moreover, even the freedom of the choice to smoke is sometimes questionable. In particular, the media has been accused of creating alluring images of smoking, which impairs the ability of people to make their own decisions (Malaspina, 2014). Similarly, the phenomenon of social smoking is explained by the wish to fit in within a community, to which teenage persons are especially prone (Nichter, 2015). As a result, the free choice argument may be regarded as typically invalid, which makes tobacco smoking even less reasonable or defensible.

It is extremely simple to argue against tobacco use: The activity has virtually no pluses, and any advantage that can be discovered by a diligent researcher would probably seem insignificant when contrasted to all the problems that smoking tends to cause. Despite this, people proceed to smoke as a result of the lack of education on the matter (WHO, 2016), harmful media images (Malaspina, 2014), and probably a number of other factors.

It is noteworthy, though, that since 2002, the number of people who have managed to quit smoking exceeds that of active smokers (CDC, 2016b, para. 22). Given the pressure of WHO (2016) in urging governments to do more to improve the situation, we may hope that tobacco use will be greatly reduced in the future, and people will stop engaging in this kind of self-harm.

Cavazos-Rehg, P. A., Breslau, N., Hatsukami, D., Krauss, M. J., Spitznagel, E. L., Grucza, R. A.,… & Bierut, L. J. (2014). Smoking cessation is associated with lower rates of mood/anxiety and alcohol use disorders . Psychological Medicine , 44 (12), 2523-2535. Web.

The article investigates the correlation between smoking cessation and certain mental disorders with the help of data from a national longitudinal study that was carried out in the United States between 2001 and 2006 by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The article concludes that there is a drop in anxiety disorder as well as the use of alcohol that is related to giving up smoking. The authors highlight the fact that the conclusion is not final and suggest that additional investigation is required. However, in their view, the idea that smoking cessation is related to an increased risk of anxiety disorders remains unproven and even contradicted by the results of their research.

For this essay, the article contributes information about the relationships between smoking and mood issues, which contradicts the myth about nicotine calming people. Also, it demonstrates the positive effects of giving up smoking, which is an argument against continued smoking.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016a). Smoking & tobacco use . Web.

The website offers fast facts on tobacco use, including those for the world and the United States, and illustrates them with the help of statistics. The facts demonstrate that smoking has a negative impact on human health (limiting the lifespan and causing diseases) and results in significant costs for countries (primarily as healthcare expenditures). Also, the website mentions that tobacco prevention expenditures and efforts are often limited. The website finishes with statistics that illustrate the scope of the problem, that is, the number of smokers in the United States.

For this essay, the website contributes useful information and statistics on smoking and its consequences, including data on costs. Also, it mentions the profitability of the tobacco industry, and the issue of preventive measures, arguments that are capable of explaining the phenomenon of the continued existence of the problem of smoking.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016b). Quitting smoking . Web.

The website contains information on the difficulties in quitting, provides relevant statistics, and suggests informative and supportive resources for those who wish to quit. It also highlights the dangers of smoking, the benefits of quitting, and the specifics of nicotine dependence.

For this essay, the website contributes some information on the dangers of smoking with a particular emphasis on the dependence and its consequences. The statistics can be used for illustrative purposes, in particular, with respect to quitting difficulties. However, the website also demonstrates that quitting is possible and beneficial, which is an argument against continued smoking that can be employed in the essay.

Jha, P., Ramasundarahettige, C., Landsman, V., Rostron, B., Thun, M., Anderson, R. N.,… & Peto, R. (2013). 21st-century hazards of smoking and benefits of cessation in the United States . New England Journal of Medicine , 368 (4), 341-350. Web.

The article is devoted to conducting a new research on life expectancy in smokers in order to take into account new factors of the changing environment. Also, the authors consider the life expectancy of the people who have quitted smoking. The study has an impressive sample size: It uses 202,248 histories of smoking cessation. The authors conclude that smokers’ lives are shorter while ceasing to smoke can help to “gain” several years, especially if it is done before the age of 40.

The article offers evidence on lifespan reduction as a result of smoking, and some data on smoking cessation benefits that can be used in the essay as arguments and illustrations. Also, the sample size of the article implies its credibility, making it a more attractive source.

Malaspina, A. (2014). False images, deadly promises . Broomall, Pa.: Mason Crest.

The book contains much information on smoking risks, but it focuses on the role of the media in popularizing this habit. Also, it considers other reasons for taking up smoking, including peer pressure, and mentions the problem of the profitability of the tobacco industry, which hinders the process of smoking eradication.

The book offers a comprehensive overview of the costs of tobacco, which makes it a very useful source. For the essay, the book contributes the study of media tobacco images, which is an interesting perspective. It can be used to demonstrate the question of free choice and the effect of the media on that choice.

Moylan, S., Jacka, F., Pasco, J., & Berk, M. (2012). Cigarette smoking, nicotine dependence and anxiety disorders: a systematic review of population-based, epidemiological studies . BMC Medicine , 10 (1), 123. Web.

The article reviews studies that are devoted to the correlation between anxiety and other mental disorders and smoking. The authors criticize some of the studies, demonstrating that there is limited evidence in some of them, but still conclude that the correlation between smoking and the risk of developing some disorders (in particular, generalized anxiety disorder) is sufficiently proven.

For the essay, the article provides direct information on tobacco use and its consequences and also demonstrates that unscrupulous studies are not unlikely to be produced, but this fact does not prove the lack of dangers in smoking. The existence of unscrupulous studies can be used as a pro-tobacco argument. Given the fact that it is difficult to find reputable sources that contain an alternative (approving) perspective on tobacco, it is a very important contribution to an argumentative essay.

Nichter, M. (2015). Lighting up . New York, NY: NYU Press.

The book contains a significant amount of information on tobacco-related issues, and it specifically focuses on the phenomenon of social smoking in college students. In particular, it discusses the issue of peer pressure as well as wrong perceptions, which are, in part, caused by the media. For example, it examines the harmful stereotype of smoking having a calming effect, which tends to attract youngsters who are experiencing a crisis.

The book is quite comprehensive and contains much useful information on smoking myths. For the essay, the book offers an explanation of one of the reasons for taking up smoking and demonstrates its harmfulness. It can be used to prove a pro-tobacco argument to be false and destructive.

Parrott, A. & Murphy, R. (2012). Explaining the stress-inducing effects of nicotine to cigarette smokers . Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental , 27 (2), 150-155. Web.

The authors explain the mechanism of the abstinence symptoms in smokers, relate it to resulting anxiety disorders, and demonstrate that the perceived calming effect of smoking consists of addiction consequences. In other words, the authors demonstrate that tobacco is only capable of removing the abstinence-related anxiety caused by smoking tobacco, which makes the effect pointless. The authors also review prior studies and show that non-smokers or quitters are less likely to report irritability, stress, depression, and anxiety than smokers.

For the essay, the article explains one of the few pro-tobacco arguments (that smoking has a calming effect) and proves that it is false and harmful. As a result, the article is an important contribution that provides some information on the opposite point of view, according to which there are benefits to smoking, and proves it wrong.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2016). Effects of smoking on your health .

The website contains detailed information on health-related smoking effects. It demonstrates that there is hardly a part of a smoker’s body that remains unaffected. Also, the website describes particular issues that are caused by smoking, with respect to every specific part of a human body.

The website is the most comprehensive yet concise source in this bibliography with respect to smoking-related health issues. It presents information in the form of lists and pictures, which helps it to provide more details while taking up less space and readers’ time. For the essay, the website offers information on the health problems that are caused by smoking and describes them in greater detail than the rest of the sources.

World Health Organization. (2016). Tobacco fact sheet . Web.

The website offers limited statistics and information on the dangers of smoking and the process of quitting. Among other things, it describes the dangers of “second-hand” smoke with relevant statistics and an emphasis on the consequences for young children. Also, its states the WHO’s position on the matter, as well as the organization’s recommendations for government-level anti-tobacco activities.

For the essay, the website provides useful tobacco-related information that includes global statistics; the “second-hand” smoke information is also a very important argument that should be used in the paper. Moreover, the website creates a sense of urgency by demonstrating that the issue of tobacco smoking requires the attention of governments and healthcare organizations all over the world.

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IvyPanda. (2024, April 12). Tobacco Smoking and Its Dangers. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tobacco-smoking-and-its-dangers/

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Tobacco Smoking and Its Dangers." April 12, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tobacco-smoking-and-its-dangers/.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Tobacco Smoking and Its Dangers." April 12, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tobacco-smoking-and-its-dangers/.

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Essay on Smoking

500 words essay on  smoking.

One of the most common problems we are facing in today’s world which is killing people is smoking. A lot of people pick up this habit because of stress , personal issues and more. In fact, some even begin showing it off. When someone smokes a cigarette, they not only hurt themselves but everyone around them. It has many ill-effects on the human body which we will go through in the essay on smoking.

Ill-Effects of Smoking

Tobacco can have a disastrous impact on our health. Nonetheless, people consume it daily for a long period of time till it’s too late. Nearly one billion people in the whole world smoke. It is a shocking figure as that 1 billion puts millions of people at risk along with themselves.

Cigarettes have a major impact on the lungs. Around a third of all cancer cases happen due to smoking. For instance, it can affect breathing and causes shortness of breath and coughing. Further, it also increases the risk of respiratory tract infection which ultimately reduces the quality of life.

In addition to these serious health consequences, smoking impacts the well-being of a person as well. It alters the sense of smell and taste. Further, it also reduces the ability to perform physical exercises.

It also hampers your physical appearances like giving yellow teeth and aged skin. You also get a greater risk of depression or anxiety . Smoking also affects our relationship with our family, friends and colleagues.

Most importantly, it is also an expensive habit. In other words, it entails heavy financial costs. Even though some people don’t have money to get by, they waste it on cigarettes because of their addiction.

How to Quit Smoking?

There are many ways through which one can quit smoking. The first one is preparing for the day when you will quit. It is not easy to quit a habit abruptly, so set a date to give yourself time to prepare mentally.

Further, you can also use NRTs for your nicotine dependence. They can reduce your craving and withdrawal symptoms. NRTs like skin patches, chewing gums, lozenges, nasal spray and inhalers can help greatly.

Moreover, you can also consider non-nicotine medications. They require a prescription so it is essential to talk to your doctor to get access to it. Most importantly, seek behavioural support. To tackle your dependence on nicotine, it is essential to get counselling services, self-materials or more to get through this phase.

One can also try alternative therapies if they want to try them. There is no harm in trying as long as you are determined to quit smoking. For instance, filters, smoking deterrents, e-cigarettes, acupuncture, cold laser therapy, yoga and more can work for some people.

Always remember that you cannot quit smoking instantly as it will be bad for you as well. Try cutting down on it and then slowly and steadily give it up altogether.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Smoking

Thus, if anyone is a slave to cigarettes, it is essential for them to understand that it is never too late to stop smoking. With the help and a good action plan, anyone can quit it for good. Moreover, the benefits will be evident within a few days of quitting.

FAQ of Essay on Smoking

Question 1: What are the effects of smoking?

Answer 1: Smoking has major effects like cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and more. It also increases the risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems with the immune system .

Question 2: Why should we avoid smoking?

Answer 2: We must avoid smoking as it can lengthen your life expectancy. Moreover, by not smoking, you decrease your risk of disease which includes lung cancer, throat cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more.

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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office on Smoking and Health. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US); 2012.

Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General.

1 introduction, summary, and conclusions.

• Introduction

Tobacco use is a global epidemic among young people. As with adults, it poses a serious health threat to youth and young adults in the United States and has significant implications for this nation’s public and economic health in the future ( Perry et al. 1994 ; Kessler 1995 ). The impact of cigarette smoking and other tobacco use on chronic disease, which accounts for 75% of American spending on health care ( Anderson 2010 ), is well-documented and undeniable. Although progress has been made since the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health in 1964 ( U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare [USDHEW] 1964 ), nearly one in four high school seniors is a current smoker. Most young smokers become adult smokers. One-half of adult smokers die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases ( Fagerström 2002 ; Doll et al. 2004 ). Despite thousands of programs to reduce youth smoking and hundreds of thousands of media stories on the dangers of tobacco use, generation after generation continues to use these deadly products, and family after family continues to suffer the devastating consequences. Yet a robust science base exists on social, biological, and environmental factors that influence young people to use tobacco, the physiology of progression from experimentation to addiction, other health effects of tobacco use, the epidemiology of youth and young adult tobacco use, and evidence-based interventions that have proven effective at reducing both initiation and prevalence of tobacco use among young people. Those are precisely the issues examined in this report, which aims to support the application of this robust science base.

Nearly all tobacco use begins in childhood and adolescence ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS] 1994 ). In all, 88% of adult smokers who smoke daily report that they started smoking by the age of 18 years (see Chapter 3 , “The Epidemiology of Tobacco Use Among Young People in the United States and Worldwide”). This is a time in life of great vulnerability to social influences ( Steinberg 2004 ), such as those offered through the marketing of tobacco products and the modeling of smoking by attractive role models, as in movies ( Dalton et al. 2009 ), which have especially strong effects on the young. This is also a time in life of heightened sensitivity to normative influences: as tobacco use is less tolerated in public areas and there are fewer social or regular users of tobacco, use decreases among youth ( Alesci et al. 2003 ). And so, as we adults quit, we help protect our children.

Cigarettes are the only legal consumer products in the world that cause one-half of their long-term users to die prematurely ( Fagerström 2002 ; Doll et al. 2004 ). As this epidemic continues to take its toll in the United States, it is also increasing in low- and middle-income countries that are least able to afford the resulting health and economic consequences ( Peto and Lopez 2001 ; Reddy et al. 2006 ). It is past time to end this epidemic. To do so, primary prevention is required, for which our focus must be on youth and young adults. As noted in this report, we now have a set of proven tools and policies that can drastically lower youth initiation and use of tobacco products. Fully committing to using these tools and executing these policies consistently and aggressively is the most straight forward and effective to making future generations tobacco-free.

The 1994 Surgeon General’s Report

This Surgeon General’s report on tobacco is the second to focus solely on young people since these reports began in 1964. Its main purpose is to update the science of smoking among youth since the first comprehensive Surgeon General’s report on tobacco use by youth, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People , was published in 1994 ( USDHHS 1994 ). That report concluded that if young people can remain free of tobacco until 18 years of age, most will never start to smoke. The report documented the addiction process for young people and how the symptoms of addiction in youth are similar to those in adults. Tobacco was also presented as a gateway drug among young people, because its use generally precedes and increases the risk of using illicit drugs. Cigarette advertising and promotional activities were seen as a potent way to increase the risk of cigarette smoking among young people, while community-wide efforts were shown to have been successful in reducing tobacco use among youth. All of these conclusions remain important, relevant, and accurate, as documented in the current report, but there has been considerable research since 1994 that greatly expands our knowledge about tobacco use among youth, its prevention, and the dynamics of cessation among young people. Thus, there is a compelling need for the current report.

Tobacco Control Developments

Since 1994, multiple legal and scientific developments have altered the tobacco control environment and thus have affected smoking among youth. The states and the U.S. Department of Justice brought lawsuits against cigarette companies, with the result that many internal documents of the tobacco industry have been made public and have been analyzed and introduced into the science of tobacco control. Also, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with the tobacco companies resulted in the elimination of billboard and transit advertising as well as print advertising that directly targeted underage youth and limitations on the use of brand sponsorships ( National Association of Attorneys General [NAAG] 1998 ). This settlement also created the American Legacy Foundation, which implemented a nationwide antismoking campaign targeting youth. In 2009, the U.S. Congress passed a law that gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products in order to promote the public’s health ( Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act 2009 ). Certain tobacco companies are now subject to regulations limiting their ability to market to young people. In addition, they have had to reimburse state governments (through agreements made with some states and the Master Settlement Agreement) for some health care costs. Due in part to these changes, there was a decrease in tobacco use among adults and among youth following the Master Settlement Agreement, which is documented in this current report.

Recent Surgeon General Reports Addressing Youth Issues

Other reports of the Surgeon General since 1994 have also included major conclusions that relate to tobacco use among youth ( Office of the Surgeon General 2010 ). In 1998, the report focused on tobacco use among U.S. racial/ethnic minority groups ( USDHHS 1998 ) and noted that cigarette smoking among Black and Hispanic youth increased in the 1990s following declines among all racial/ethnic groups in the 1980s; this was particularly notable among Black youth, and culturally appropriate interventions were suggested. In 2000, the report focused on reducing tobacco use ( USDHHS 2000b ). A major conclusion of that report was that school-based interventions, when implemented with community- and media-based activities, could reduce or postpone the onset of smoking among adolescents by 20–40%. That report also noted that effective regulation of tobacco advertising and promotional activities directed at young people would very likely reduce the prevalence and onset of smoking. In 2001, the Surgeon General’s report focused on women and smoking ( USDHHS 2001 ). Besides reinforcing much of what was discussed in earlier reports, this report documented that girls were more affected than boys by the desire to smoke for the purpose of weight control. Given the ongoing obesity epidemic ( Bonnie et al. 2007 ), the current report includes a more extensive review of research in this area.

The 2004 Surgeon General’s report on the health consequences of smoking ( USDHHS 2004 ) concluded that there is sufficient evidence to infer that a causal relationship exists between active smoking and (a) impaired lung growth during childhood and adolescence; (b) early onset of decline in lung function during late adolescence and early adulthood; (c) respiratory signs and symptoms in children and adolescents, including coughing, phlegm, wheezing, and dyspnea; and (d) asthma-related symptoms (e.g., wheezing) in childhood and adolescence. The 2004 Surgeon General’s report further provided evidence that cigarette smoking in young people is associated with the development of atherosclerosis.

The 2010 Surgeon General’s report on the biology of tobacco focused on the understanding of biological and behavioral mechanisms that might underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke ( USDHHS 2010 ). Although there are no specific conclusions in that report regarding adolescent addiction, it does describe evidence indicating that adolescents can become dependent at even low levels of consumption. Two studies ( Adriani et al. 2003 ; Schochet et al. 2005 ) referenced in that report suggest that because the adolescent brain is still developing, it may be more susceptible and receptive to nicotine than the adult brain.

Scientific Reviews

Since 1994, several scientific reviews related to one or more aspects of tobacco use among youth have been undertaken that also serve as a foundation for the current report. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) ( Lynch and Bonnie 1994 ) released Growing Up Tobacco Free: Preventing Nicotine Addiction in Children and Youths, a report that provided policy recommendations based on research to that date. In 1998, IOM provided a white paper, Taking Action to Reduce Tobacco Use, on strategies to reduce the increasing prevalence (at that time) of smoking among young people and adults. More recently, IOM ( Bonnie et al. 2007 ) released a comprehensive report entitled Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation . Although that report covered multiple potential approaches to tobacco control, not just those focused on youth, it characterized the overarching goal of reducing smoking as involving three distinct steps: “reducing the rate of initiation of smoking among youth (IOM [ Lynch and Bonnie] 1994 ), reducing involuntary tobacco smoke exposure ( National Research Council 1986 ), and helping people quit smoking” (p. 3). Thus, reducing onset was seen as one of the primary goals of tobacco control.

As part of USDHHS continuing efforts to assess the health of the nation, prevent disease, and promote health, the department released, in 2000, Healthy People 2010 and, in 2010, Healthy People 2020 ( USDHHS 2000a , 2011 ). Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. For 3 decades, Healthy People has established benchmarks and monitored progress over time in order to encourage collaborations across sectors, guide individuals toward making informed health decisions, and measure the impact of prevention activities. Each iteration of Healthy People serves as the nation’s disease prevention and health promotion roadmap for the decade. Both Healthy People 2010 and Healthy People 2020 highlight “Tobacco Use” as one of the nation’s “Leading Health Indicators,” feature “Tobacco Use” as one of its topic areas, and identify specific measurable tobacco-related objectives and targets for the nation to strive for. Healthy People 2010 and Healthy People 2020 provide tobacco objectives based on the most current science and detailed population-based data to drive action, assess tobacco use among young people, and identify racial and ethnic disparities. Additionally, many of the Healthy People 2010 and 2020 tobacco objectives address reductions of tobacco use among youth and target decreases in tobacco advertising in venues most often influencing young people. A complete list of the healthy people 2020 objectives can be found on their Web site ( USDHHS 2011 ).

In addition, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health has published monographs pertinent to the topic of tobacco use among youth. In 2001, NCI published Monograph 14, Changing Adolescent Smoking Prevalence , which reviewed data on smoking among youth in the 1990s, highlighted important statewide intervention programs, presented data on the influence of marketing by the tobacco industry and the pricing of cigarettes, and examined differences in smoking by racial/ethnic subgroup ( NCI 2001 ). In 2008, NCI published Monograph 19, The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use ( NCI 2008 ). Although young people were not the sole focus of this Monograph, the causal relationship between tobacco advertising and promotion and increased tobacco use, the impact on youth of depictions of smoking in movies, and the success of media campaigns in reducing youth tobacco use were highlighted as major conclusions of the report.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (2011) provides evidence-based recommendations about community preventive services, programs, and policies on a range of topics including tobacco use prevention and cessation ( Task Force on Community Preventive Services 2001 , 2005 ). Evidence reviews addressing interventions to reduce tobacco use initiation and restricting minors’ access to tobacco products were cited and used to inform the reviews in the current report. The Cochrane Collaboration (2010) has also substantially contributed to the review literature on youth and tobacco use by producing relevant systematic assessments of health-related programs and interventions. Relevant to this Surgeon General’s report are Cochrane reviews on interventions using mass media ( Sowden 1998 ), community interventions to prevent smoking ( Sowden and Stead 2003 ), the effects of advertising and promotional activities on smoking among youth ( Lovato et al. 2003 , 2011 ), preventing tobacco sales to minors ( Stead and Lancaster 2005 ), school-based programs ( Thomas and Perara 2006 ), programs for young people to quit using tobacco ( Grimshaw and Stanton 2006 ), and family programs for preventing smoking by youth ( Thomas et al. 2007 ). These reviews have been cited throughout the current report when appropriate.

In summary, substantial new research has added to our knowledge and understanding of tobacco use and control as it relates to youth since the 1994 Surgeon General’s report, including updates and new data in subsequent Surgeon General’s reports, in IOM reports, in NCI Monographs, and in Cochrane Collaboration reviews, in addition to hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, policy reports, and systematic reviews. Although this report is a follow-up to the 1994 report, other important reviews have been undertaken in the past 18 years and have served to fill the gap during an especially active and important time in research on tobacco control among youth.

• Focus of the Report

Young People

This report focuses on “young people.” In general, work was reviewed on the health consequences, epidemiology, etiology, reduction, and prevention of tobacco use for those in the young adolescent (11–14 years of age), adolescent (15–17 years of age), and young adult (18–25 years of age) age groups. When possible, an effort was made to be specific about the age group to which a particular analysis, study, or conclusion applies. Because hundreds of articles, books, and reports were reviewed, however, there are, unavoidably, inconsistencies in the terminology used. “Adolescents,” “children,” and “youth” are used mostly interchangeably throughout this report. In general, this group encompasses those 11–17 years of age, although “children” is a more general term that will include those younger than 11 years of age. Generally, those who are 18–25 years old are considered young adults (even though, developmentally, the period between 18–20 years of age is often labeled late adolescence), and those 26 years of age or older are considered adults.

In addition, it is important to note that the report is concerned with active smoking or use of smokeless tobacco on the part of the young person. The report does not consider young people’s exposure to secondhand smoke, also referred to as involuntary or passive smoking, which was discussed in the 2006 report of the Surgeon General ( USDHHS 2006 ). Additionally, the report does not discuss research on children younger than 11 years old; there is very little evidence of tobacco use in the United States by children younger than 11 years of age, and although there may be some predictors of later tobacco use in those younger years, the research on active tobacco use among youth has been focused on those 11 years of age and older.

Tobacco Use

Although cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use in the United States, this report focuses on other forms as well, such as using smokeless tobacco (including chew and snuff) and smoking a product other than a cigarette, such as a pipe, cigar, or bidi (tobacco wrapped in tendu leaves). Because for young people the use of one form of tobacco has been associated with use of other tobacco products, it is particularly important to monitor all forms of tobacco use in this age group. The term “tobacco use” in this report indicates use of any tobacco product. When the word “smoking” is used alone, it refers to cigarette smoking.

• Organization of the Report

This chapter begins by providing a short synopsis of other reports that have addressed smoking among youth and, after listing the major conclusions of this report, will end by presenting conclusions specific to each chapter. Chapter 2 of this report (“The Health Consequences of Tobacco Use Among Young People”) focuses on the diseases caused by early tobacco use, the addiction process, the relation of body weight to smoking, respiratory and pulmonary problems associated with tobacco use, and cardiovascular effects. Chapter 3 (“The Epidemiology of Tobacco Use Among Young People in the United States and Worldwide”) provides recent and long-term cross-sectional and longitudinal data on cigarette smoking, use of smokeless tobacco, and the use of other tobacco products by young people, by racial/ethnic group and gender, primarily in the United States, but including some worldwide data as well. Chapter 4 (“Social, Environmental, Cognitive, and Genetic Influences on the Use of Tobacco Among Youth”) identifies the primary risk factors associated with tobacco use among youth at four levels, including the larger social and physical environments, smaller social groups, cognitive factors, and genetics and neurobiology. Chapter 5 (“The Tobacco Industry’s Influences on the Use of Tobacco Among Youth”) includes data on marketing expenditures for the tobacco industry over time and by category, the effects of cigarette advertising and promotional activities on young people’s smoking, the effects of price and packaging on use, the use of the Internet and movies to market tobacco products, and an evaluation of efforts by the tobacco industry to prevent tobacco use among young people. Chapter 6 (“Efforts to Prevent and Reduce Tobacco Use Among Young People”) provides evidence on the effectiveness of family-based, clinic-based, and school-based programs, mass media campaigns, regulatory and legislative approaches, increased cigarette prices, and community and statewide efforts in the fight against tobacco use among youth. Chapter 7 (“A Vision for Ending the Tobacco Epidemic”) points to next steps in preventing and reducing tobacco use among young people.

• Preparation of the Report

This report of the Surgeon General was prepared by the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USDHHS. In 2008, 18 external independent scientists reviewed the 1994 report and suggested areas to be added and updated. These scientists also suggested chapter editors and a senior scientific editor, who were contacted by OSH. Each chapter editor named external scientists who could contribute, and 33 content experts prepared draft sections. The draft sections were consolidated into chapters by the chapter editors and then reviewed by the senior scientific editor, with technical editing performed by CDC. The chapters were sent individually to 34 peer reviewers who are experts in the areas covered and who reviewed the chapters for scientific accuracy and comprehensiveness. The entire manuscript was then sent to more than 25 external senior scientists who reviewed the science of the entire document. After each review cycle, the drafts were revised by the chapter and senior scientific editor on the basis of the experts’ comments. Subsequently, the report was reviewed by various agencies within USDHHS. Publication lags prevent up-to-the-minute inclusion of all recently published articles and data, and so some more recent publications may not be cited in this report.

• Evaluation of the Evidence

Since the first Surgeon General’s report in 1964 on smoking and health ( USDHEW 1964 ), major conclusions concerning the conditions and diseases caused by cigarette smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco have been based on explicit criteria for causal inference ( USDHHS 2004 ). Although a number of different criteria have been proposed for causal inference since the 1960s, this report focuses on the five commonly accepted criteria that were used in the original 1964 report and that are discussed in greater detail in the 2004 report on the health consequences of smoking ( USDHHS 2004 ). The five criteria refer to the examination of the association between two variables, such as a risk factor (e.g., smoking) and an outcome (e.g., lung cancer). Causal inference between these variables is based on (1) the consistency of the association across multiple studies; this is the persistent finding of an association in different persons, places, circumstances, and times; (2) the degree of the strength of association, that is, the magnitude and statistical significance of the association in multiple studies; (3) the specificity of the association to clearly demonstrate that tobacco use is robustly associated with the condition, even if tobacco use has multiple effects and multiple causes exist for the condition; (4) the temporal relationship of the association so that tobacco use precedes disease onset; and (5) the coherence of the association, that is, the argument that the association makes scientific sense, given data from other sources and understanding of biological and psychosocial mechanisms ( USDHHS 2004 ). Since the 2004 Surgeon General’s report, The Health Consequences of Smoking , a four-level hierarchy ( Table 1.1 ) has been used to assess the research data on associations discussed in these reports ( USDHHS 2004 ). In general, this assessment was done by the chapter editors and then reviewed as appropriate by peer reviewers, senior scientists, and the scientific editors. For a relationship to be considered sufficient to be characterized as causal, multiple studies over time provided evidence in support of each criteria.

Four-level hierarchy for classifying the strength of causal inferences based on available evidence.

When a causal association is presented in the chapter conclusions in this report, these four levels are used to describe the strength of the evidence of the association, from causal (1) to not causal (4). Within the report, other terms are used to discuss the evidence to date (i.e., mixed, limited, and equivocal evidence), which generally represent an inadequacy of data to inform a conclusion.

However, an assessment of a casual relationship is not utilized in presenting all of the report’s conclusions. The major conclusions are written to be important summary statements that are easily understood by those reading the report. Some conclusions, particularly those found in Chapter 3 (epidemiology), provide observations and data related to tobacco use among young people, and are generally not examinations of causal relationships. For those conclusions that are written using the hierarchy above, a careful and extensive review of the literature has been undertaken for this report, based on the accepted causal criteria ( USDHHS 2004 ). Evidence that was characterized as Level 1 or Level 2 was prioritized for inclusion as chapter conclusions.

In additional to causal inferences, statistical estimation and hypothesis testing of associations are presented. For example, confidence intervals have been added to the tables in the chapter on the epidemiology of youth tobacco use (see Chapter 3 ), and statistical testing has been conducted for that chapter when appropriate. The chapter on efforts to prevent tobacco use discusses the relative improvement in tobacco use rates when implementing one type of program (or policy) versus a control program. Statistical methods, including meta-analytic methods and longitudinal trajectory analyses, are also presented to ensure that the methods of evaluating data are up to date with the current cutting-edge research that has been reviewed. Regardless of the methods used to assess significance, the five causal criteria discussed above were applied in developing the conclusions of each chapter and the report.

• Major Conclusions
• Cigarette smoking by youth and young adults has immediate adverse health consequences, including addiction, and accelerates the development of chronic diseases across the full life course.
• Prevention efforts must focus on both adolescents and young adults because among adults who become daily smokers, nearly all first use of cigarettes occurs by 18 years of age (88%), with 99% of first use by 26 years of age.
• Advertising and promotional activities by tobacco companies have been shown to cause the onset and continuation of smoking among adolescents and young adults.
• After years of steady progress, declines in the use of tobacco by youth and young adults have slowed for cigarette smoking and stalled for smokeless tobacco use.
• Coordinated, multicomponent interventions that combine mass media campaigns, price increases including those that result from tax increases, school-based policies and programs, and statewide or community-wide changes in smoke-free policies and norms are effective in reducing the initiation, prevalence, and intensity of smoking among youth and young adults.
• Chapter Conclusions

The following are the conclusions presented in the substantive chapters of this report.

Chapter 2. The Health Consequences of Tobacco Use Among Young People

• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between smoking and addiction to nicotine, beginning in adolescence and young adulthood.
• The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to conclude that smoking contributes to future use of marijuana and other illicit drugs.
• The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to conclude that smoking by adolescents and young adults is not associated with significant weight loss, contrary to young people’s beliefs.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between active smoking and both reduced lung function and impaired lung growth during childhood and adolescence.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between active smoking and wheezing severe enough to be diagnosed as asthma in susceptible child and adolescent populations.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between smoking in adolescence and young adulthood and early abdominal aortic atherosclerosis in young adults.
• The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between smoking in adolescence and young adulthood and coronary artery atherosclerosis in adulthood.

Chapter 3. The Epidemiology of Tobacco Use Among Young People in the United States and Worldwide

• Among adults who become daily smokers, nearly all first use of cigarettes occurs by 18 years of age (88%), with 99% of first use by 26 years of age.
• Almost one in four high school seniors is a current (in the past 30 days) cigarette smoker, compared with one in three young adults and one in five adults. About 1 in 10 high school senior males is a current smokeless tobacco user, and about 1 in 5 high school senior males is a current cigar smoker.
• Among adolescents and young adults, cigarette smoking declined from the late 1990s, particularly after the Master Settlement Agreement in 1998. This decline has slowed in recent years, however.
• Significant disparities in tobacco use remain among young people nationwide. The prevalence of cigarette smoking is highest among American Indians and Alaska Natives, followed by Whites and Hispanics, and then Asians and Blacks. The prevalence of cigarette smoking is also highest among lower socioeconomic status youth.
• Use of smokeless tobacco and cigars declined in the late 1990s, but the declines appear to have stalled in the last 5 years. The latest data show the use of smokeless tobacco is increasing among White high school males, and cigar smoking may be increasing among Black high school females.
• Concurrent use of multiple tobacco products is prevalent among youth. Among those who use tobacco, nearly one-third of high school females and more than one-half of high school males report using more than one tobacco product in the last 30 days.
• Rates of tobacco use remain low among girls relative to boys in many developing countries, however, the gender gap between adolescent females and males is narrow in many countries around the globe.

Chapter 4. Social, Environmental, Cognitive, and Genetic Influences on the Use of Tobacco Among Youth

• Given their developmental stage, adolescents and young adults are uniquely susceptible to social and environmental influences to use tobacco.
• Socioeconomic factors and educational attainment influence the development of youth smoking behavior. The adolescents most likely to begin to use tobacco and progress to regular use are those who have lower academic achievement.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between peer group social influences and the initiation and maintenance of smoking behaviors during adolescence.
• Affective processes play an important role in youth smoking behavior, with a strong association between youth smoking and negative affect.
• The evidence is suggestive that tobacco use is a heritable trait, more so for regular use than for onset. The expression of genetic risk for smoking among young people may be moderated by small-group and larger social-environmental factors.

Chapter 5. The Tobacco Industry’s Influences on the Use of Tobacco Among Youth

• In 2008, tobacco companies spent $9.94 billion on the marketing of cigarettes and $547 million on the marketing of smokeless tobacco. Spending on cigarette marketing is 48% higher than in 1998, the year of the Master Settlement Agreement. Expenditures for marketing smokeless tobacco are 277% higher than in 1998.
• Tobacco company expenditures have become increasingly concentrated on marketing efforts that reduce the prices of targeted tobacco products. Such expenditures accounted for approximately 84% of cigarette marketing and more than 77% of the marketing of smokeless tobacco products in 2008.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between advertising and promotional efforts of the tobacco companies and the initiation and progression of tobacco use among young people.
• The evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to conclude that tobacco companies have changed the packaging and design of their products in ways that have increased these products’ appeal to adolescents and young adults.
• The tobacco companies’ activities and programs for the prevention of youth smoking have not demonstrated an impact on the initiation or prevalence of smoking among young people.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in the movies and the initiation of smoking among young people.

Chapter 6. Efforts to Prevent and Reduce Tobacco Use Among Young People

• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that mass media campaigns, comprehensive community programs, and comprehensive statewide tobacco control programs can prevent the initiation of tobacco use and reduce its prevalence among youth.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that increases in cigarette prices reduce the initiation, prevalence, and intensity of smoking among youth and young adults.
• The evidence is sufficient to conclude that school-based programs with evidence of effectiveness, containing specific components, can produce at least short-term effects and reduce the prevalence of tobacco use among school-aged youth.
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• Cite this Page National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office on Smoking and Health. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US); 2012. 1, Introduction, Summary, and Conclusions.
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9.3: The Argumentative Essay

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Learning Objectives

• Examine types of argumentative essays

Argumentative Essays

You may have heard it said that all writing is an argument of some kind. Even if you’re writing an informative essay, you still have the job of trying to convince your audience that the information is important. However, there are times you’ll be asked to write an essay that is specifically an argumentative piece.

An argumentative essay is one that makes a clear assertion or argument about some topic or issue. When you’re writing an argumentative essay, it’s important to remember that an academic argument is quite different from a regular, emotional argument. Note that sometimes students forget the academic aspect of an argumentative essay and write essays that are much too emotional for an academic audience. It’s important for you to choose a topic you feel passionately about (if you’re allowed to pick your topic), but you have to be sure you aren’t too emotionally attached to a topic. In an academic argument, you’ll have a lot more constraints you have to consider, and you’ll focus much more on logic and reasoning than emotions.

Argumentative essays are quite common in academic writing and are often an important part of writing in all disciplines. You may be asked to take a stand on a social issue in your introduction to writing course, but you could also be asked to take a stand on an issue related to health care in your nursing courses or make a case for solving a local environmental problem in your biology class. And, since argument is such a common essay assignment, it’s important to be aware of some basic elements of a good argumentative essay.

When your professor asks you to write an argumentative essay, you’ll often be given something specific to write about. For example, you may be asked to take a stand on an issue you have been discussing in class. Perhaps, in your education class, you would be asked to write about standardized testing in public schools. Or, in your literature class, you might be asked to argue the effects of protest literature on public policy in the United States.

However, there are times when you’ll be given a choice of topics. You might even be asked to write an argumentative essay on any topic related to your field of study or a topic you feel that is important personally.

Whatever the case, having some knowledge of some basic argumentative techniques or strategies will be helpful as you write. Below are some common types of arguments.

Causal Arguments

• In this type of argument, you argue that something has caused something else. For example, you might explore the causes of the decline of large mammals in the world’s ocean and make a case for your cause.

Evaluation Arguments

• In this type of argument, you make an argumentative evaluation of something as “good” or “bad,” but you need to establish the criteria for “good” or “bad.” For example, you might evaluate a children’s book for your education class, but you would need to establish clear criteria for your evaluation for your audience.

Proposal Arguments

• In this type of argument, you must propose a solution to a problem. First, you must establish a clear problem and then propose a specific solution to that problem. For example, you might argue for a proposal that would increase retention rates at your college.

Narrative Arguments

• In this type of argument, you make your case by telling a story with a clear point related to your argument. For example, you might write a narrative about your experiences with standardized testing in order to make a case for reform.

Rebuttal Arguments

• In a rebuttal argument, you build your case around refuting an idea or ideas that have come before. In other words, your starting point is to challenge the ideas of the past.

Definition Arguments

• In this type of argument, you use a definition as the starting point for making your case. For example, in a definition argument, you might argue that NCAA basketball players should be defined as professional players and, therefore, should be paid.

https://assessments.lumenlearning.co...essments/20277

Essay Examples

• Click here to read an argumentative essay on the consequences of fast fashion . Read it and look at the comments to recognize strategies and techniques the author uses to convey her ideas.
• In this example, you’ll see a sample argumentative paper from a psychology class submitted in APA format. Key parts of the argumentative structure have been noted for you in the sample.

Link to Learning

For more examples of types of argumentative essays, visit the Argumentative Purposes section of the Excelsior OWL .

Contributors and Attributions

• Argumentative Essay. Provided by : Excelsior OWL. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/rhetorical-styles/argumentative-essay/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Image of a man with a heart and a brain. Authored by : Mohamed Hassan. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : pixabay.com/illustrations/decision-brain-heart-mind-4083469/. License : Other . License Terms : pixabay.com/service/terms/#license

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Argumentative Essay on Vaping

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Published: Mar 14, 2024

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Biden Delays Ban on Menthol Cigarettes

The proposal had been years in the making, in an effort to curb death rates of Black smokers targeted by Big Tobacco. In an election year, the president’s worries about support among Black voters may have influenced the postponement.

By Christina Jewett and Noah Weiland

The Biden administration said on Friday that it was delaying a decision on whether to ban menthol cigarettes, effectively quashing a proposal that has divided Black American voters and fueled million-dollar lobbying campaigns from the tobacco industry in this presidential election year.

The White House has faced considerable resistance from the cigarette companies that would lose billions of dollars if they could no longer sell menthol cigarettes. Opponents took to the airwaves to warn of a spike in cartel traffic along the border from counterfeit cigarette smuggling and of police violence targeting Black residents if a ban were in force.

Those efforts posed risks for President Biden, whose support among Black voters has at times slipped in recent months.

Some of Mr. Biden’s top health officials have said that a ban would save lives and protect against lung cancer, which is a higher risk for Black smokers, who have historically favored menthol cigarettes and are heavily targeted by tobacco companies.

“This rule has garnered historic attention, and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” Xavier Becerra, the health and human services secretary, said in a statement. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

The decision highlighted a debate among senior federal officials over how to weigh the political and legal consequences of a ban against public health.

A White House spokeswoman declined to comment and referred to Mr. Becerra’s statement.

Mr. Becerra, the administration’s highest-ranking health official, said in an interview earlier this year that he had continued to push the White House to support the ban.

“We started to pull together all the elements of a good proposal to move on something we’ve known for decades: that menthol is killing Americans in disproportionate numbers when it comes to smoking,” he said.

“It should surprise no one that we’re continuing to push ’til the very end,” he said in the interview.

Dr. Robert Califf, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner and a supporter of the ban, told House lawmakers at a budget hearing this month that he hoped regulators would be able to issue a decision by the end of the year.

“It’s one of our top priorities, so I would sure hope so,” he said.

Dr. Califf said that as a cardiologist who had practiced for more than three decades, he had seen more people die from tobacco-related illness “than almost any physician, because I was an intensivist who dealt with the end stage of the disease.”

“From the point of view of the F.D.A. and me as an individual, given what I’ve seen in my life, we’re talking about over the next 30 years, probably 600,000 deaths that could be averted,” Dr. Califf said. Most would be Black Americans who are consumers the industry targets, he added.

The F.D.A. had previously described the effort as a “critical piece” of Mr. Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, noting that about 30 percent of all cancer deaths are caused by smoking. Studies projected that a ban could avert as many as 650,000 smoking-related deaths.

A majority of the Congressional Black Caucus supported the ban. On Friday, Derrick Johnson, the president of the N.A.A.C.P., rebuked the president, saying Mr. Biden was choosing politics over people’s lives.

“Today’s news from the Biden administration is a blow to the Black community, who continue to be unfairly targeted and unjustly killed by Big Tobacco,” Mr. Johnson said. “Let’s be clear — valuing Black lives should not be used as a pawn to get our people to the polls, but rather a platform that our leaders refuse to step down from.”

Democrats have fretted for months about Mr. Biden’s soft support among Black voters — in particular Black men. Polls have consistently shown Mr. Biden with support from a substantially smaller percentage of Black men than he had in the 2020 election, which was itself a smaller portion than Democratic presidential candidates took in prior elections.

The ban had also united an array of public health groups, including leading lung, heart, cancer and pediatric associations.

They cited years of data suggesting that menthol cigarettes, long marketed to African American smokers, make it more palatable to start smoking and more difficult to stop. Many of those groups expressed outrage on Friday about the delay, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

“The White House fell for industry rhetoric and, as a result, public health will suffer,” said Dr. Karen E. Knudsen, the chief executive of the American Cancer Society.

The F.D.A. formally proposed the ban in May 2022, saying there were 18.5 million smokers who preferred menthol brands in the United States. Researchers looking at similar moves in other nations estimated that a ban could result in nearly a quarter of menthol smokers quitting altogether.

The proposal made its way to the White House in October. Soon, official calendars were flooded with meeting requests from not only supporters of the ban but also from opponents, which included tobacco companies, convenience stores and gas station retailers. They projected that the ban would cost them billions of dollars in sales.

Reynolds American, which makes Newport menthol cigarettes, gave millions of dollars in recent years to political action funds that benefit Republican lawmakers, as well as $1 million in February to a fund supporting former President Donald J. Trump.

“We strongly believe there are more effective ways to transition adult smokers away from cigarettes permanently,” Luis Pinto, a spokesman for Reynolds, said in a statement. “We believe that providing access to potentially safer nicotine alternatives, like appropriately regulated flavored vaping products — including menthol — are critical in supporting adult smokers to migrate from combustible cigarettes.”

Altria, which makes some menthol Marlboro cigarettes, donated less than Reynolds, but also contributed to funds supporting Republican lawmakers.

Republicans in Congress have denounced the proposed ban in letters to the Biden administration, warning that it would increase trafficking of counterfeit cigarettes. Republicans also mounted a failed effort last year to keep the government from funding any work on the ban.

Opponents of the ban have sponsored prime-time commercials criticizing the ban and saying it would fuel illicit tobacco trafficking and enrich cartels. They have helped promote some Black leaders’ concerns that a ban would encourage law enforcement to target Black smokers. (The F.D.A. has said such a ban would be enforced on manufacturers.)

The Biden campaign has gone to significant lengths to bolster its support among Black voters. It road-tested a series of get-out-the-vote methods and strategies in South Carolina ahead of the state’s first-in-the-nation Democratic primary in February, and has since devoted resources and staged campaign events aimed at Black voters in key general election battleground states.

Reynolds has argued the ban would have “serious unintended consequences,” including more counterfeit cigarette use. Altria has raised the same argument and has also said that historically low and declining youth smoking rates do not justify pursuing a ban.

Convenience store owners who predicted that the ban would cost them billions staged a demonstration in November in front of the Manhattan office of Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader. On hand were members of the National Action Network, who have acknowledged accepting tobacco funding over the years.

They invited Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who died after a police officer who suspected of him selling loose cigarettes placed him in a chokehold. She warned at the event that a menthol ban would increase such encounters with the police. “This will create more havoc in the Black and brown communities,” she said.

In an interview after the event, Ms. Carr said she had not received money from tobacco companies. “I can’t be bought,” she said.

The F.D.A. had previously said that it expected to see the menthol ban finalized by the end of 2023. As months passed, public health groups amped up pressure, staging a “menthol funeral” outside the White House in January to highlight the lost opportunity to extend lives and curb smoking-related disease.

In April, Action on Smoking & Health, an advocacy group, and the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council sued the administration in a bid for action.

“Tobacco industry arguments have prevailed over public health,” Laurent Huber, the executive director of Action on Smoking & Health, said in a statement Friday. “There is no scientific research to support continuing to sell mentholated tobacco products.”

David A. Fahrenthold , Reid J. Epstein and Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.

Christina Jewett covers the Food and Drug Administration, which means keeping a close eye on drugs, medical devices, food safety and tobacco policy. More about Christina Jewett

Noah Weiland writes about health care for The Times. More about Noah Weiland