When I’m at home, I always remind my dad not to smoke, although he never listens to me. I feel really worried about his health. It is not hard to imagine how I feel when I read this article on slate.com. It is actually a briefing version, so I then found the original article from US. News.
The article first gave readers the background: the percentage of smokers was been decreasing since decades, however this year, it increased from 19.8% to 20.6%. Experts think that it’s because of the cut of budget for state tobacco-control programs. It then gave some statistics like male smokers vs. female smokers, smokers graduated from high school vs. smokers who did not graduate from high school, Asian American smokers vs. native American smokers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the reason for which there are more people smoking, is that the state is not giving enough money for them to control the situation, which is somehow, good to know since it proves the success of control. The report also indicates that the money that we spend on tobacco is $203.5 billion, which is almost 33 times greater than the money spent on tobacco prevention. After focusing on these negative sides, the author also wrote about the positive things. The topic firstly narrows: the secondhand smoke is mentioned, then the article provided some advices to reduce it. Then it starts to talk about the overall situation again, finally winds up with the adolescents smoking problem caused, according to them, by movies with smoking scenes.
To be honest, I did not like this article. It is organized in some order, good for the first part, however the second part from the weekly report did not make much sense to me. It is merely a report of survey result without many opinions. Those datas are not really interesting. However, numbers talk. Large amount of data shows figuratively the fact. I’m surprised that “states have received $203.5 billion in tobacco-related revenue”, but the budget for tobacco prevention is less than 3 percent of that. This is something that the government should consider thoroughly. They indeed, raised tobacco tax to shock smokers early this year. Check this video:
I also went to the NPR news to find other reasons why they increased the tobacco tax and I do find it: actually, this measure is also related to “bridge budget gaps“. It is obvious to tell: money matters the most.
Elaine.T. Said:
on November 14, 2009 at 4:52 am
My uncle also love smoking. Actually, putting tax on cigarette is not a new policy, but it’s always the most effective policy. Sometimes, I really wonder, why it seems that people care their money more than their health….
Jennifer Z Said:
on November 15, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Although people knew that smoking is bad for our body, there ase a lot of people still love smoking. Someone thought that a very cool image of them. How bad smoking in our socirty! It not only spend a lot of money but also bad for our bodies. Can someone give a good reason why they like to smoking? I really like this artical’s data, although the data is not enough as you said. Sometimes, when i saw someone they were smoking i could say; ” Can you stop smoking?” i alredy know which was a mean action.
bkjung Said:
on November 16, 2009 at 4:33 am
I think the goverment should put more money in tobacco control so that it leds people to stop smoking because it is bad for american people’s health.