Cigarette Smoking: A Social Problem

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A social problem may be defined as “a situation confronting a group or a section of society which inflicts injurious consequences that can be handled only collectively”. Cigarette smoking is a situation that is less than ideal, undesirable by many sections in the society. It has harmful effects on the society and future generations. The statistics of which will be discussed as we go along in the essay. Cigarette smoking is a situation which can be remedied only by collective effort. Thus, cigarette smoking is a social problem and a serious one too, as there are more than a billion people indulging in it. Here are certain key facts about smoking as presented by The World Health Organisation: Tobacco kills up to half of its users. Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year. More than five million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to secondhand smoke. …show more content…

This shows that immediate action is required to counter smoking as a social problem. There needs to be mutual consensus between Governments and NGOs globally. International cooperation in the fight against smoking has to be achieved. ASH ( Action on Health and smoking) states that Under 11% of the world’s population are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws. National comprehensive health-care services supporting cessation are available in only 19 countries, representing 14% of the world’s population. States have not done enough to counter