For these past week I have worked on a persuasive speech about why we should ban smoking.
Here is my speech:
Did you know that over 3 million people globally die every year from smoking? Smoking is terrible for your physical and mental health which can take effect on our world for the worst. My name is Addison and today I would like to talk to you about why we should ban smoking.
Smoking is a big problem for the body. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. It is estimated that every cigarette you smoke takes away 11 minutes of your life. Within 10 seconds of your first puff, the toxic chemicals in the cigarettes reach your brain, heart and other organs. Smoking affects almost every part of your body. As a smoker you are also harming people around you when they breathe in the smoke you exhale.
Smoking plays a big part in mental health. When you smoke, the nicotine causes pleasant feelings and distracts you from the unpleasant ones, but this is not long term. Smoking causes depression, anxiety and loneliness. Nicotine makes you socially isolated and then you can’t make friends, or want to socialize with friends or family. Other symptoms are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorder. Frequent uses of nicotine creates changes in how the brain works in relation to self control, stress and learning.
Even the environment is affected by cigarettes. About 1.69 million pounds of cigarette butts end up as toxic trash every year and globally 1,134,292 cigarette butts were cleaned from beaches and waterways in 2021. Cigarettes are the most littered item on earth and it pollutes the air, water and land with the toxic chemicals they contain. The butts go down the drain and wash to the ocean and beaches. Cigarettes also harm a lot of wildlife and it causes deforestation.
So what I’m trying to say is cigarettes are harmful in so many ways, and I think that we should take action before more harm happens to us and the people around us. I hope you will take all this into consideration and help us ban cigarettes and make the world a safer place for everyone.