Finding Paragraph #1

    Many people are unaware of the illnesses that secondhand smoking causes. According to Matthew Myers, "there is no longer a scientific controversy that secondhand smoke is a killer." So there is no question whether there should be a ban on smoking in public places. The answer is obviously yes. As expressed in "Danger of Secondhand-Smoke" secondhand smoking is just as bad, if not worse than actually smoking a cigarette yourself. Secondhand smoking also increases the risk of getting many fatal diseases that are very hard to cure. Some of these include heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, damaging of the arteries, and many more (Hurt). Also for those people that have children and smoke, they are also putting their children in great danger. Children can develop a low birth weight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), middle ear infections, lower respitory tract infections, and asthma (Mayo Clinic). All of these diseases and illnesses are caused by extreme, continuous exposure to secondhand smoke; before you start to develop these health conditions, you will start to notice some minor side effects taking place. Some of these side effects include headache, having trouble breathing, coughing, and sore throat (Terpening). Along with causing people to inhale toxic chemicals that cause you to get seriously sick, secondhand smoking also has an effect on the amount of people smoking, and at what ages they are. Since so many people are smoking around young kids and teens, they would be more inclined to smoke themselves. Because there is no ban on smoking in public places, everywhere you go people are smoking. And not many people realize just how much secondhand smoking is effecting the health and overall pleasantness of our local community.