Passive smoking

Last week, Quentin chose to make his presentation about the topic of passive smoking, also called second-hand smoking. Passive smoking is the fact that non-smokers can unvoluntarily get exposed to the dangers of smoking, by inhalating the cigarets' smoke. It can be source of several diseases, and causes over 600,000 deaths a year worldwide. It therefore appears as a problem that needs to be dealt with. Scientists have therefore mobilized in order to make people as aware of possible of the dangers of passive smoking, arguing that most of these deaths could be avoided with proper prevention and legislation.

He then asked two questions. The first one was about who was a smoker in the group, but no hands were raised but Quentin's one. In my opinion, this is to be related with some kind of embarassment to be a smoker (i don't think Quentin was the one and only smoker of the class, but he was apparently the only one to fully accept it). The second one was about if smokers were feeling guilty about it, but since there was no other "revealed" smokers in the classroom it encountered little reaction.

I myself am a non-smoker, and always try when possible to promote the rights of non-smokers to breathe free from the disturbance of cigarets' smoke. As Quentin said, smoking disturbance to non-smokers is more accute in enclosed places. A roommate can absorbe one fifth of the smoke inhalated by the smoker himself simply by standing next to him: This should in my view get the smokers to think more deeply about the fact that they deteriorate their friends health.
I think the government has a real will to fight passive smoking, and is aware that the best way to to so is to fight smokers themselves. However taxation on cigarets prices isn't the best solution to me: This can truly discourage some smokers, but it also penalizes tobaconnists, who aren't really responsible for what they sell to earn their livings. After all, smokers do smoke because they choose to do so, and their sector is not to be blamed for it. I therefore think that the government should create a fund in order to allow tobaconnists to diversify their activities, so as to compensate the loss related to the fight against tabagism.