Large Fine and Illegal for Smoking in Public is Necessary

楊葉丹

【Abstract】Smoking is harmful to health but it is not easy to restrain it. Recently， the State Council plans to make smoke in public areas illegal and to punish the smoker with a large fine. Hearing this news， some people make a stand against the decision.

【Key words】smoking； large fine； illegal

A plan is made by State Council that smoking in public areas is illegal and the smoker must pay a large fine. Some people make a stand against the decision. They consider that smoking belongs to personal habit and its harm is not so serious. Furthermore， some ordinary people cannot pay the large fine. However， personal behavior should be on the basis of not harm others， and smoking potential harm is very severe. Moreover， the large fine would urge people to smoke less and to save some money.

Opponents of the State Councils decision claim that smoking is a personal habit. It can reduce smokers anxiety and pressure. For some people， smoking becomes the indispensable part of their daily life. However， only caring about ourselves is extremely selfish. When resolving personal troubles， we should not hurt others. Smoking in public will harm others. The most obvious harm is the secondhand smoke， a kind of smog released form smokers and breathed by people who are not smoker. It would bring serious damage to many innocent people. “According to some researches， it would give rise to abortion and premature delivery for pregnant woman who are usually influenced by secondhand smoke. Sometimes the smoke will cause deformed baby” （Invisible Killer Secondhand Smoke）. As for adults， secondhand smoke would make them be sterile. In addition， Secondhand smoke may increase the risk of heart attack and other health problems. Smoking do is personal habit. Well， if the cost of this habit is to damage others， should not we ban it？ Smoking in public areas has heavy disadvantages. We cant sacrifice other peoples health to content someones satisfaction.

Opponents also maintain that the harm of smoking is not so serious. It doesnt deserve to make smoke illegal. They think many smokers also could live as well as non-smokers. The smokers still can work and travel normally. Actually， smoking potential harm is very serious. “Up to now， nearly 1.1billion Chinese people are either smoking or being exposed to secondhand smoke” （Chinese Suffering from Smoking）. The number of death due to smoking was more than 2.5 million people all over the world each year. Smoking would cause cancer， cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Smoking on women appears more aging， wrinkles and with grey comparing with non-smokers. Besides， majority of people die from cancer because they smoke for a long time. The smog in cigarette is carcinogenic. That is to say， it can encounter cancer tissue on any part of the respiratory tract it passed. And the nicotine in cigarette would make people addictive. Surely， you cannot get cancer after smoking a little while. Many people have smoked a box of cigarette but few people dead of the acute poisoning. If a person is addictive in cigarette and smoke for a long time， the rate of getting cancer is much higher.

The final argument advanced by opponents is that some ordinary people could not pay the large fine. It would make them poor because of this punishment. According to regulations， people should pay 50 to 500 Yuan people smoke in public areas. The opponents complain that the fine is too high. Then if a person smokes once a day in public areas， he or she should take about

18， 000 Yuan/year at least. Someone cannot accept it. However， as for smokers， buying cigarettes for a long time is also expensive. If a smoker spends 30 Yuan on buying cigarette per a day， 10， 000 Yuan should cost a year only for smoking. If people do not want to pay the high fine， they would restrain themselves in public areas. The less time they smoke， the less money they pay. In this way， it not only reduces the fine， but also save the payments of buying cigarettes.

Put smoke in the public areas be illegal and punish it with a large fine is an important decision. Even though some people are opposed to it， there are some justifications showing that the arguments against the punishment are not reasonable. Smoking in public would bring heavy damages to smokers and the near people. And the large fine could urge smoker smoke less. With time goes by， maybe some people would quit smoking. So it can help people save a lot of money. Therefore， in my opinion， it is a valid decision.

References：

[1]“Invisible Killer Secondhand Smoke”.Trans Ann Yang.August 25，2009.http：//kreader.cnki.net January 1，2015.

[2]“Chinese Suffering from Smoking”.China Daily.December 9，2014.http：//www.chinadaily.com.cn.January 1，2015.