Discourage people from damaging their own health Essay

What more should be done to discourage people from damaging their own health? Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Discouraging people from damaging their own health is important because it will help the people to live a healthy lifestyle and with a healthy lifestyle, the people can live longer without any health problems or diseases. There are many ways to discourage people from damaging their own health, especially such as discouraging the people from smoking. To discourage people from smoking it can be done by putting tobacco labels, stop advertising, raising taxes and banning smoking. Tobacco labels are like warning messages that appear on the packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products concerning the health effects of those products. There have been implemented in an effort to enhance the public’s awareness of the harmful effects of smoking. For example, in the United States, on September 2012, all cigarettes for sale or distributed in the United States were to be packaged or advertised with these new cigarette health and a stop smoking hotline number. Studies have shown that viewers had a stronger response to the pictures than to written warnings. Cigarettes advertisements that are carried on televisions, radios and internet websites, should be stopped. If it is not being put to a halt, the people will smoke more and damage their own health more. Instead they should advertise the side effects of smoking too much cigarettes. For example, in the United States, the congress banned cigarette advertising on TV and radio in 1971 and spit tobacco advertising in 1987. The American Legacy Foundation and many states have made anti-smoking public service messages that are featured on television, radio, and billboards. Some tobacco companies have come up with their own advertisements, which appear to be anti-smoking and it actually helps reduce the amount of smokers. Raising the taxes of cigarettes, will reduce the amount of people or may be even stop them from smoking therefore the people will be able to live healthy a lifestyle. An example is in the U.S. The taxes on cigarettes have risen in many states in recent years. These increased costs have been shown to discourage young people from starting to smoke and encourage smokers to quit. As of early 2014, the federal cigarette tax is $1.01 per pack. State taxes on tobacco vary from as low as 17 cents in Missouri to up  to $4.35 a pack in New York. Nearly all states and Washington DC levy their own taxes on other tobacco products such as cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, and chewing tobacco. As of 2014, Pennsylvania charges no state tax on non-cigarette tobacco products, while Minnesota and Washington both charge 95% of the wholesale price of the tobacco product in taxes. The most important way to stop people from smoking is by banning smoking in some countries. This means that the government will introduce the law into the country and if anyone who goes against the law, will have to pay a fine. In the United States, the laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia restrict or do not allow smoking in certain public places. These laws range from simple restrictions, such as designated areas in state or local government buildings, to laws that ban smoking in all public places and workplaces. Federal buildings are required to be smoke-free. Smoking is also banned on all domestic airplane flights. According to the US Surgeon General, smoke-free policies that ban smoking in all indoor areas are the only way to be sure that people are not exposed to secondhand smoke at work and in other public places. In my conclusion, I think the government or any organizations should be raise more awareness of the side effects of smoking cigarettes by organizing exhibitions, making leaflets about the side effects of smoking and televisions advertisements to raise awareness. From there, the people would understand the bad effects of smoking too much cigarettes.