Smoking Argumentative Analysis

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These discussions lead in to some moral arguments that deal with smoking. First, human beings do have the moral right to harm themselves. However, they must be in their right mind and be aware of all the risks to their chosen behavior. It can be argued that once a person is addicted to nicotine, they no longer are capable of making a rational choice when it comes to smoking. They need to do it because their body is addicted to nicotine and craves it. I would say that this is a rational argument and would support those who are smoking and would like to stop to seek help. Nonetheless, I believe that this argument cannot be applied at Ashland University. The core issues of smoking where decided many years ago. The latest scientific study I state …show more content…

Over the years many different studies have been released proving that secondhand smoke causes cancer and repertory issues. In 1986 the US Surgeon General stated that it posed a health risk. Then in 1992 The US Environmental Protection Agency named it a Class A carcinogen. Basically, the argument is over about secondhand smoke causing ill health effects. However, an argument that can still be brought up when it comes to banning smoke on college campuses is if you are tens of feet away from a nonsmoker are you really causing harm? This is a very valid question, especially when you are outside. There is no reason to ban smoking in an area that is not going to harm nonsmokers. This is why I am supporting outside by the fountain as a location to smoke. This is a space that nonsmokers can easily avoid, the smoke will disperse and will not cause nonsmokers any ill effects. One argument still is that when a smoker finishes smoking and goes and joins other nonsmokers in class or in Convo they will still smell like smoke. This can still cause some ill health effects, such as aggravating asthma. However, there are two solutions for this. One, would be to ban smoking on campus. This would not solve the problem because people will smoke off campus and then still return with this lingering smoke. The other would be to make smokers change clothes, so there would be less lingering smoke smell. This is enforcing a large amount of control on people and really quite 1984ish and