Research Proposal on

The need for establishing smoking zones in public places like college

Suraj Ghimire

BBA VII Semester

King’s College, Kathmandu

November 17, 2012

Introduction

Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practiced as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce trances and spiritual enlightenment. Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug use. Tobacco smoking is today by far the most popular form of smoking and is practiced by over one billion people in the majority of all human societies. Less common drugs for smoking include cannabis and opium. Some of the substances are classified as hard narcotics, like heroin, but the use of these is very limited as they are often not commercially available.

Statement of Problem

Even if you don't smoke, you can still suffer from some of the dangerous effects of cigarettes if you breathe in cigarette smoke when other people are smoking. Approximately 49,400 non-smokers die of heart disease or lung cancer in the United States each year due to secondhand smoke, according to the American Cancer Society. Exposure to secondhand smoke can cause headaches, nausea, eye irritation, dizziness, asthma and respiratory problems in non-smokers.

Passive smoking is the inhalation of smoke, called second-hand smoke (SHS), or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by persons other than the intended 'active' smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by people within that environment. Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke causes disease, disability, and death. The health risks of second-hand smoke are a matter of scientific consensus. These risks have been a major motivation for smoke-free laws in workplaces and indoor public places, including restaurants, bars and night clubs, as well as some open public spaces.

Concerns around second-hand smoke have played a central role in the debate over the harms and regulation of tobacco products. Since the early 1970s, the tobacco industry has viewed public concern over second-hand smoke as a serious threat to its business interests. Harm to bystanders was perceived as a motivator for stricter regulation of tobacco products. Despite the industry's awareness of the harms of second-hand smoke as early as the 1980s, the tobacco industry coordinated a scientific controversy with the aim of forestalling regulation of their products.

Effects

In 1992, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a review of available evidence on the relationship between second-hand smoke and heart disease, and estimated that second-hand smoke exposure was responsible for 35,000 to 40,000 deaths per year in the United

States in the early 1980s. The absolute risk increase of heart disease due to ETS was 2.2%, while the attributable risk percent was 23%.

In 2004, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed all significant published evidence related to tobacco smoking and cancer. It concluded:

These meta-analyses show that there is a statistically significant and consistent association between lung cancer risk in spouses of smokers and exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke from the spouse who smokes. The excess risk is of the order of 20% for women and 30% for men and remains after controlling for some potential sources of bias and confounding.

Subsequent meta-analyses have confirmed these findings, and additional studies have found that high overall exposure to passive smoke even among people with non-smoking partners is associated with greater risks than partner smoking and is widespread in non-smokers.

The National Asthma Council of Australia cites studies showing that second-hand smoke is probably the most important indoor pollutant, especially around young children:

Smoking by either parent, particularly by the mother, increases the risk of asthma in children.

The outlook for early childhood asthma is less favorable in smoking households. Children with asthma who are exposed to smoking in the home generally have more

severe disease. Many adults with asthma identify ETS as a trigger for their symptoms. Doctor-diagnosed asthma is more common among non-smoking adults exposed to ETS

than those not exposed. Among people with asthma, higher ETS exposure is associated with a greater risk of severe attacks.

In France, exposure to second-hand smoke has been estimated to cause between 3,000 and 5,000 premature deaths per year, with the larger figure cited by Prime minister Dominique de Villepin during his announcement of a nationwide smoke-free law: "That makes more than 13 deaths a day. It is an unacceptable reality in our country in terms of public health."

There is good observational evidence that smoke-free legislation reduces the number of hospital admissions for heart disease. In 2009 two studies in the United States confirmed the effectiveness of public smoking bans in preventing heart attacks. The first study, carried out at the University of California, San Francisco and funded by the National Cancer Institute, found a 15 percent decline in heart-attack hospitalisations in the first year after smoke-free legislation was passed, and 36 percent after three years. The second study, carried out at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, showed similar results. Overall, women, non-smokers, and people under age 60 had the most heart attack risk reduction. Many of those benefiting were hospitality and entertainment industry workers.

Objective of the research

Provision of smoking room

A Smoking room (or smoking lounge) is a room which is specifically provided and furnished for smoking, generally in buildings where smoking is otherwise prohibited.

Smoking rooms can be found in public buildings such as airports, and in semi-public buildings such as workplaces. Such rooms are equipped with chairs, ashtrays and ventilation, and usually free to enter although there may be a smoking age restriction (usually 18). A cigarette company sometimes sponsors these smoking rooms, displaying its brand names on the room walls and financing the room or its maintenance. Cigarette companies have worked hard to ensure smoking was accommodated in major airports, which are high-profile locations serving many people who are often bored or nervous. Initially providing smoking and no smoking areas was their goal but when that policy failed they fell back on ventilated smoking rooms.

The objective of this research is to establish the fact that second-hand smoke has adverse effect upon the health of non-smokers. To curtail the effect of second hand smoke, this research aims to look for the feasibility of creating smoking zone in and around public places like Colleges. The purpose of this smoking zone would be to provide a place where smokers can smoke without adversely affecting the health of minors, pregnant and non smokers. This would also facilitate smokers to avoid jurisdictions regarding non-smoking law in public places.

Plan of Action

This section presents my plan for obtaining the objectives discussed in the previous section. There has been an increase of diseases and death from the passive smoking among non-smokers. Several journal articles and papers discussing the possibility of Smoking zone as a place for smoking safely and without harming others have surfaced as a consequence of that interest. These articles and books about the importance of smoking zone should provide sufficient information for me to complete my review. The following two paragraphs will discuss how I will use these sources in my research.The first goal of my research is to explain the criteria for determining whether a smoking zone is suitable in public places like college. A second goal of my literature review is to evaluate whether smoking zone will minimize the effects of passive smoking. I will base my evaluation on the sources available in internet, existing laws, similar experiences from other countries as well as specific Environmental Protection Agency standards. I also intend to research the validity of possible social and moral hazards which can arise due to the lack of understanding in parents.

Conclusion

More than 16,000 to 24,000 deaths annually have occurred in the US due to second hand smoke. This document has proposed research to evaluate the possibility of opening smoking zones in public places like college. The proposed research will achieve the following goals: (1) determining the feasibility of establishing smoking zone public places like college, and (2) determine if smoking zone will reduce the effect of second hand smoke on non-smokers. The research will be presented after a detailed study will be made on the subject.

References

http://daviswiki.org/smoking

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1945356,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_smoking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_room

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking

http://www.ideala.co.uk/the-smoking-zone/

http://www.ehow.com/about_5466045_problems-smoking.html

http://student.biology.arizona.edu/honors96/group7/smoking.htm