Removing Murderous Secondhand Smoke

Removing Murderous Secondhand Smoke

With permission of Debbie Glass 4/26/07

Specific Purpose:        I want to persuade my audience that the current rules for smoking on campus are not working effectively, why secondhand smoke is so dangerous, and how my plan will benefit smokers and nonsmokers.

Central Idea:        Today I hope to convince you why the current rules about smoking at SWIC are not working and why secondhand smoke is so dangerous, why we need to make sure the health of nonsmokers is not compromised while at the same time provide adequate accommodations for smokers, and why it is imperative that the amount of secondhand smoke be reduced on campus and why my plan will accomplish this.

INTRODUCTION

I.        Imagine it is a cold Monday night in February.  You’re leaving your evening class at 9 P.M., and you’re exhausted.

A.        You worked all day, just took a ridiculously difficult exam, and you just want to get home.

B.        You step out of the school doors, but right in front of you are four guys smoking.  They have ignored the “No smoking” signs.

1.        They are blocking the entire sidewalk.  You cannot get around them.

2.        You say “excuse me,” but they still don’t budge.

3.        You just want to go home, so you step off the sidewalk to go around them.  To your disgust, your entire foot sinks into the mud.

4.        At this point, one of the guys turns to you, blows cigarette smoke in your face, and says, “My bad, I guess we should’ve moved.”

C.        Now this is not a hypothetical example.  This actually happened to my friend Alisa Fassbinder, as I found out when I interviewed her.

II.         While researching this topic, I found compelling evidence that secondhand smoke is extremely harmful to nonsmokers, and the safest way to be protected from it is to eliminate exposure.

III.        I am sure if I asked each of you if your health was important to you, you’d say “yes.”  Therefore, we should all want cleaner air to breathe.

IV.        Today I hope to convince you why the current rules about smoking at SWIC are not working and why secondhand smoke is so dangerous, why we need to make sure the health of nonsmokers is not compromised while at the same time provide adequate accommodations for smokers, and why it is imperative that the amount of secondhand smoke be reduced on campus and why my plan will accomplish this.

(TRANSITION:  Now that we have had a brief overview, let us discuss why changes need to be made at SWIC and how this can be accomplished.)

BODY 

1.         The smoking restrictions currently set in place on campus are not working.  There needs to be a change because secondhand smoke is deadly.

A.        First of all, there are signs at the beginning or middle of the sidewalks that lead to the entrances of the buildings on campus, and they say “No smoking past this point.”

        1.        These signs are rarely obeyed.  I often see people smoking past the         signs, many times up by the building.

2.        My friends, who attend classes on different days and times as me, witness this as well, showing that this situation is not isolated.

B.        There are no authority figures outside making sure the signs are obeyed.

        C.        Many smokers stand right next to the doors.

        1.        This makes it nearly impossible for a nonsmoker to enter or leave a                 building without being affected by some of the cigarette smoke.

D.        While we are all subjected to a variety of forms of pollution, I do not want to damage my body by breathing in someone’s cigarette smoke, too, especially when it can be avoided.

1.        Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, is dangerous to your health.

                        a.        Leah Paulos wrote in her article “Sickly Seconds” that                                         environmental tobacco smoke is a combination of the                                         smoke         exhaled by a smoker and the smoke from the                                         burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe.  

b.        As cited in “Sickly Seconds,” Dr. Alexander Prokhorov, assistant professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said that secondhand smoke has all the same harmful chemicals smokers ingest from cigarettes.  Nonsmokers are inhaling this and it puts them at risk for all the same ailments that smokers face, just to a lesser degree.

                2.        Although it may be to a lesser degree, secondhand smoke still kills.

a.        In her book Alcohol and Tobacco, Sandra Alters related information from the American Cancer Society, who concluded that secondhand smoke is the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United States and kills 38,000 to 65,000 nonsmokers each year.  That means every year it wipes out a city that is approximately the size of Belleville to one that is about the size of Champaign, IL.

b.        In Illinois alone, secondhand smoke kills eight people every day, according to the American Lung Association.

        E.        Secondhand smoke puts those who inhale it at a higher risk for various                         diseases, especially lung cancer.

1.        Sandra Alters again writes in her book Alcohol and Tobacco about a 1994 study on secondhand smoke that was the largest of its kind, and it found compelling links between secondhand smoke and lung cancer.

2.        She also writes, “In 2000 the Environmental Health Information Service’s Ninth Report on Carcinogens classified secondhand smoke as a Group A (Human) Carcinogen – a substance known to cause cancer in humans.  According the Environmental Protection Agency, there is no safe level of exposure to such Group A toxins.”