The newly introduced “McMaster Breath Easy Campus” that will bring an end to smoking on all McMaster owned property has smokers upset. However, the program will bring so many benefits to the school to outweigh the few issues. If smokers were able to see the harmful effects that they are doing to themselves, everyone around them and, the environment they will be able to clearly see that McMaster has made the proper choice implementing this plan.
Smoking is very deadly with mortality rates rising to over three times than that of a non-smoker (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). According to Pietrangelo and Cherney in their article, a single cigarette contains over 7000 chemicals with many of them being poisonous and, 69 related to cancer (2017). Smoking physically changes the structure of skin which leads to the development of skin cancer (Pietrangelo & Cherney, 2017). Moreover, smoking alone is responsible for 30% of cancer deaths and 85% of lung cancer deaths in Canada (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). McMaster is trying to promote healthy lifestyles for everyone and as research has found, smoking is one of the most preventable ways of death (Pietrangelo & Cherney, 2017). The university is making an inconvenience for all staff, students, alumni and, visitors which hopefully leads to quitting. A regular workday lasts eight hours, in this time an individuals blood pressure will normalize and carbon monoxide levels will drop (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). After just one semester the individuals breathing will improve (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). McMasters new policy will not only promote healthy living without smoking but, allow smokers to feel reversal of smoking symptoms and encourage smoke-free lives.
McMaster is trying to promote healthy lifestyles for everyone and as research has found, smoking is one of the most preventable ways of death (Pietrangelo & Cherney, 2017). The university is making an inconvenience for all staff, students, alumni and, visitors which hopefully leads to quitting. A regular workday lasts eight hours, in this time an individuals blood pressure will normalize and carbon monoxide levels will drop (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). After just one semester the individuals breathing will improve (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). McMasters new policy will not only promote healthy living without smoking but, allow smokers to feel reversal of smoking symptoms and encourage smoke-free lives.
Breath easy is McMasters way to protect everyone from the damaging effects of smoking. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, second-hand smoke is proven to be as deadly as the directly inhaled smoke (2017). All seven thousand chemicals are left behind for everyone to breath without a choice (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). The effects of second-hand smoke are the exact same, and McMaster has noticed many innocent people are being harmed. This program will be doing everyone a favour in keeping students, staff and, visitors as healthy as they can be. Third-hand smoke has also just been recently introduced as another lethal factor. This is the smoke that’s similar to dust, which lands on tables, chairs and, the ground (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). For students at McMaster, this is potentially harmful. Students always want to enjoy the outdoor study space that the university offers but, these are commonly used by smokers. Students unknowingly put their books onto tables that contain
Third-hand smoke has also just been recently introduced as another lethal factor. This is the smoke that’s similar to dust, which lands on tables, chairs and, the ground (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). For students at McMaster, this is potentially harmful. Students always want to enjoy the outdoor study space that the university offers but, these are commonly used by smokers. Students unknowingly put their books onto tables that contain third hand smoke surrounding themselves in it, making them vulnerable to all of the issues from regular smoking (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017). McMasters “breath easy” is brining purification to not only the air but, to the entire campus.
McMaster has a worldwide vision and a commitment to make sure that the environment is sustainable. McMaster has been able to recognize that tobacco farms, are the most unsustainable farming practice. A tobacco field can only ever be used once or twice before the land is no longer fertile enough to grow any crops (The Tobacco Atlas, 2015). The plant takes all of the nitrogen, potassium and, phosphorus from the soil, which is essential for all plants to grow (The Tobacco Atlas, 2015). I have seen this personally with my own eyes, at my house tobacco companies used to have fields nearby but, now a wasteland is all that can be seen. On a more micro level, the university wants to protect its campuses from the litter that smoking produces. As it turns out, cigarette butts are not biodegradable, they are made from a source of plastic that will be around for a very long time (Green, 2013). When this act is brought into place in January 2018, it will make a beautiful campus even more beautiful without the cigarette butts blowing in the wind.
The biggest contrast to this opinion would be that smoking is integrated to many people from a young age which leads to the inability to quit. With McMasters “breath easy” it will effectively squash the smoking society. It will bring much better lives to the smokers by creating an insightful reason to quit with extra motivation from the school. Also, people say that they feel alone while trying to quit but, the university has supplied many resources for smokers to quit, along with the Cancer Society of Canada (2017). Finally by effectively helping more and more people stop smoking, the exposure to younger generations will become minimal, reducing smoking.
McMaster’s program to end smoking is a baby step on a national point of view but, it is an essential step to promote student and environmental health. It will play a key role in eradicating the smoking culture in Ontario. The university has made the first step and it’s sure through its studies that many organizations will soon follow the trend for a better-quality life. Most importantly for the students and staff at McMaster university it gives them the peace of mind that they are breathing fresh clean air.
Written by McMaster Student, Mitchell Benson.
The purpose of writing this article was to back the criticism that McMaster University is getting from making their campus free from all smoking devices. This is in an effort to reduce the smoking culture within the university and to promote happy healthy lives to all of their students and staff. This was to persuade the smoking communities view that smoking is a deadly habit, not only for the individual but, everyone and everything around. Hopefully, the insight from the university will make a larger step to eliminate smoking.