Should the government ban smoking tobacco in public?

Name

Course

Lecturer

April 2 , 2009

Banning Smoking

Utilitarian holds that actions are justifiable if they result in the greatest possible happiness for the greatest number . As such , every human action can be said to be based upon this principle . However , there are instances where the society has accommodated practices that have proved to result in the greatest amount of harm to the greatest number of individuals . The most notable of such practices is public smoking Smoking is not only irritating to the non-smoker but also harmful to the

br smoker . Research indicate that in America alone , smokers consume close to five hundred billion cigarettes per annum with more than four-hundred thousand deaths every year being attributed to this consumption (Slovic 2001 . With this regard , the society has every reason to invest all its energies in making sure that this practice is stopped since it is the single most preventable cause of premature death in many countries . As such , the society , through its most powerful institution , the government , is justified in not only banning public smoking but smoking in general . The World Health Organization predict that the number of deaths as a result of tobacco smoking will rise from four million people to ten million by the year twenty thirty (World Health Organization 1997 . In other words , if smoking is not banned , many individuals are going to lose their lives

There is no doubt that tobacco possess serious health risks . Anecdotal evidence of possible harms from this habit begun to be...