Banning Smoking

INTRODUCTION

The question I ask is, would the banning of smoking increase the overall health of Americans?

HYPOTHESIS

I believe at the end of this study I will find that smoking is the root of many of America’s greatest health issues. As well the fact that limiting or completely eliminating exposure of Americans to second hand smoke would greatly increase the health of all Americans. I believe this change would happen very rapidly following the ban of smoking in public areas.

METHODOLOGY

In order to conduct my study I will gather a small group of volunteers for interviews as well as reviewing other studies done on smoking related health issues. To gather volunteers I will advertise in several newspapers to find as close to an even number of men, women, non-smokers, smokers, and several ethnic backgrounds. The participants chosen will answer a questionnaire consisting of questions related to their own health, their family health history with smoking related illnesses, and activities in daily life. My target population is 18 thru 99 year old Americans of all ethnic backgrounds and genders. Participants will be chosen after filling out a brief application where they will describe their physical characteristics, and if they are a non-smoker/smoker.

ARTICLE REVIEW

I found several articles that describe studies done related to my own studies question. In my first article a study was done to expose how ineffective air filtrations systems are at reducing second hand smoke. The researchers studied the levels of cancer causing chemicals, which were common byproducts of tobacco smoke, in the air of sever different pubs using these air filtration systems. In one of the bars selected they were able to measure these chemical levels before and after the bar chose voluntarily to ban smoking within it.

The study found that in the bars using ventilation systems the level of carcinogens was actually higher in the restaurant area then the bar area. They also found that many of the pub owners did not even know how to run the ventilation systems properly. In the pub that decided to voluntarily ban smoking they saw a drop off of carcinogens by 96% in the smoking bar area and 80% in the non-smoking dining area. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2006).

My second article is talking about a study done to see how States using various smoking policies were affected. The researchers compared the decline of smokers in states using ASSIST, a federally funded program to help states develop methods of reducing smoking, as well as states using their own smoking control policies against states that do not use either. The study found that the states using ASSIST or strict smoking policies saw a much larger decline in