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Stop
littering, not smoking
The
next time you're tanning on the beach and
want to reach for a cigarette, think twice
because with the new ban on smoking at beaches
in Los Angeles and Santa Monica counties
you could be fined $250 for satisfying that
craving.
As
soon as June 19 the ban goes into place
in Los Angeles counties. The money collected
from the fine will be used to pay for more
non-smoking enforcement, signs and ads to
increase awareness of the law.
California
first banned smoking in restaurants and
bars, then within a certain number of feet
from government buildings and playgrounds
(including Cal State Long Beach, which has
no smoking 20 feet from all buildings) and
now many Californian cities are banning
smoking at public beaches.
The
pioneer for this ban was Solana Beach in
September 2003. During a beach cleanup 6,300
cigarette butts were found in one hour at
Solana Beach and the cleanup crew took this
information to city hall. 91 percent of
Solana's citizens are reported to approve
of this ban, according to ABC News.
Months
later another beach cleanup showed 60 percent
of its refuse was cigarette butts. The seemingly
harmless act of throwing a cigarette butt
onto the ground carries harsh environmental
penalties as the butts are not biodegradable
and contain 200 known poisons, 63 of which
cause cancer, according to ABC News. Health
hazards and problems with litter are
cited as the main reasons behind the bans
but people smoke knowing the health risks
and that is their choice. The problem should
be limited to littering on the beach, not
the act of smoking itself.
Those
opposed think that law enforcement and lifeguards
should be concentrating on more serious
issues such as beach safety instead of monitoring
the actions of public beach-goers. Through
this act, the government is just moving
another step closer in the ultimate erosion
of the rights of American citizens.
Though
smokers create an unwelcome odor each time
they light up and the litter of cigarette
butts outweighs that of soda bottles, they
should still be allowed to smoke outside.
Second-hand smoke is rarely welcome but
smokers should retain the right to buy and
use tobacco products if they so choose and
should not have to hide out in homes or
designated areas.
The
non-smoking laws are slowly forcing smokers
out of the public eye and increasing government
control of private life.
This
law shows that the government is against
smoking and while it cannot effectively
outlaw tobacco products, it can control
where these products are used. The law will
protect non-smokers from having to deal
with the smell of cigarettes nearby and
it will slightly lessen the exposure of
children to cigarettes and the effects of
second-hand smoke which cover a wide range
of diseases and cancers all covered on SmokingLungs.com.
These
effects, according to the Smoking Lungs
Web site, are cancers of the lung, mouth,
tongue, throat, larynx, esophagus, pancreas,
bladder, kidney, coronary artery disease,
peripheral artery disease, gangrene of the
legs and stroke. The Smoking Lungs Web site
also states that cigarette smoking causes
over 90 percent of lung cancers and yet
there are still 50 million smokers in America.
According
to the Environmental Protection Agency,
50,000 people die each year from second-hand
smoke. Environmental officials are saying
that increased smoking bans are necessary
for anti-pollution requirements at the state
and federal level.
Creating
smoking beaches much like dog beaches, where
smokers can freely inhale would give smokers
a place to go and allow children and non-smokers
smoke free beaches devoid of the litter
from discarded cigarettes, along with eliminating
cigarette litter.
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