Tobacco Products Persuasive Essay

The FDA should have control over tobacco products

According to the Center of Disease Control, smoking is responsible for 480,000 deaths a year and causes another 42,000 deaths due to secondhand smoke in America (“Fast”). It is the number one cause of preventable death in America, and something needs to be done to stop this monster of a drug. I have lived with smokers in my family all my life. Both of my parents and four out of five of my siblings smoke. Each of them wishes they could quit the habit, but it is too addictive and they regret having that first cigarette every day. My dad also has been diagnosed with COPD. He was convinced that he would never get hurt by smoking, and that’s what a lot of smokers believe despite the evidence showing

A lot of tobacco companies see that teenagers are the most susceptible to advertisements, and if the tobacco companies get them hooked early on, they will make the most money: “...if kids stopped smoking, the cigarette companies market of smokers would shrink away to almost nothing. But thanks, in large part, to cigarette company marketing efforts, each day more than 4,000 kids try smoking for the first time, and another 2,000 kids become regular daily smokers” (Gallogly). Teens are a major part in tobacco companies success. They are exploited by cigarette ads and tobacco companies each day and they are used as the main target market for cigarettes. Not only is it illegal to smoke underage, Tobacco companies are taking advantage of their young minds and eating away at their hard earned money. Teens are by far the most susceptible to advertisements and have no trouble spending their money rather than saving it, and the tobacco companies see no wrong in using them to grow their horrid business. Not to mention the health risk posed to kids smoking, which includes their organs and their bodies not fully developing: “Cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence increases the number and severity of respiratory illnesses. It also causes retardation in the rate of lung development and in the level of

They think the wealthy would hardly be affected by the change and would carry on smoking the same amount, and for good reason. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, a liberal tax-research group, “Adding $1.50 to the cost of a pack of cigarettes would cost taxpayers who earn less than $10,000 per year four percent of their income; by contrast, it would cost those earning more than $200,000 per year just one-tenth of a percent of their income”(Chait). This strongly supports the popular belief that raising taxes won’t put a dent in the smoking population. The wealthy would shrug off the increase while the less fortunate who are struggling with quitting would have their money ripped from their pockets. What this argument fails to consider is that almost the entirety of the smoking population is teenagers, and the average citizen doesn’t make over $200,000 a year: “Almost 90 percent of all regular smokers begin smoking at or before age 18, and hardly anybody tries their first cigarette outside of childhood.” Teenagers the age of 18 or below clearly make less than $200,000 a year, and probably make less than $10,000 on average. If there was an increase in taxes, it would greatly discourage teens to smoke as they will be paying a large percent of their income on them. An article written by the Campaign for tobacco free kids says, “Numerous economic studies show that for every ten