Rationale for Smoking Ban, Essay Example

The strengths of the article are that it gives data to support its argument and analyzing the data does allow us to look at the big picture. For example, the article says U.S. is the second largest consumer of smoking in the world and a research on the web reveals that population wise it is the third largest country in the world behind India and China (Rosenberg). In fact, China and India have populations almost four times that of the U.S., thus, one may infer that smoking rate in U.S. is pretty high. Similarly, the article gives specific data about the leading causes of death in the U.S. and mentions that studies have proven a major link between smoking and some of these leading death causes. The article argues that ETS or second hand smoking is the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and, thus, smoking should be banned in the restaurants of Delaware County, Indiana where the smoking attributable mortality rate (SAM) is higher than the national median. The article gives examples of other states that have banned smoking and also cites the national health objectives for 2010 which among other things calls for smoke-free air in restaurants. The article also gives examples of benefits that may accrue from ban including low mortality rates and economic benefits to the government as well as the private employers. Thus, the article uses numerous statistics as well as practical examples to argue that its campaign to ban smoking in restaurants has merits.

The weakness of the article is that sometimes it uses arguments from sources that cannot be considered unbiased. For example, one of the sources cited in the article is Americans for Non-smokers’ Rights. When information comes from biased sources, it doesn’t have the same credibility as independent sources because one expects biased sources to only look for confirmation that supports their stated position. Moreover, the article sometimes cites statistics that do not seem to have any relationship with the objective of the article. For example, the article states that the residents of Delaware County are at risk for smoking because 3 in 10 claim to smoke and having smoked 100 or more cigarettes in their entire lives. The purpose of the article is to ban smoking in restaurants and the above claim doesn’t mention where the residents usually smoke and also skip the time element. If most of the residents smoke in non-restaurant environments, it doesn’t provide any support to smoking ban in restaurants and similarly, smoking over 100 or more cigarettes over a week or month is different from over years as is the case with recreational smokers. The article does give examples of states that have followed the suit but it doesn’t provide any evidence as to what improvement those states have seen after the ban or how they are faring better than the states without smoking ban in restaurants.

The article can improve its rationale by ensuring that it only cites independent sources to lend more credibility to itself otherwise the article will be merely engaging in confirmation bias (Science Daily). I will also mention specific data as to how municipalities or states that have instituted smoking ban in restaurants have benefitted, either by including both before-ban and after-ban data or comparing them to cities that do not have smoking bans. I will also add legal and ethical rationale as to how non-smokers have a right to be protected from harmful second-hand smoke because it imposes unjust economic and health costs upon them and the mortality data supports it. The article does mention benefits of smoking ban but I will add statistical data to lend more credibility to the claims instead of making a general statement. I may also include testimonies and recommendations of medical experts and environmental professionals on this issue because these professionals have ‘expert power’ (MindTools).

Reference

MindTools. (n.d.). Expert Power. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_04.htm

Rosenberg, M. (n.d.). Most Populous Countries Today. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://geography.about.com/cs/worldpopulation/a/mostpopulous.htm

Science Daily. (n.d.). Confirmation Bias. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/c/confirmation_bias.htm