Name : Abu Dzar bin Abd Aziz
Matric number : 263968
Case study 2
350,000 people die each year from diseases linked to tobacco. 85 percent of all deaths
from lung cancer are directly responsible for smoking. Smoking has been declared the main
preventable cause of death in our culture by the Surgeon General. Cigarettes are not only one
of the most dangerous items today, perhaps one of the most addictive ones too. The nicotine
found in cigarettes is as addictive as heroin and cocaine according to a recent Surgeon General
survey.
And it is possible to legally buy and sell this lethal product which contains a very strong
addictive substance. And it is promoted, along with soap and margarine, via publicity in media
today. Cigarette ads were banned from the television screen and radio waves in 1971, but the
latest stats prove that the tobacco industry continues to spend more than $2 billion annually
advocating tobacco products via other methods, including magazines, newspapers, and
billboards. In the next Assembly, lawmakers would be required to pass a bill that would
prohibit all cigarette ads in magazines and newspapers. The cigarette companies and their
marketers have harassed the offer because it violates basic moral privileges. Does the company
have the right to ban cigarette advertising?
Anti-smoking critics assert that everyone should have a fundamental right to freedom
of speech but only in so far as because it does not result in harm to others. If the freedom of
speech results in damage to others, there is a moral duty on society to limit that right. One form
of free speech, cigarette ads, causes significant harm. Of the twelve published studies that tested
the impact of tobacco advertising, nine shown that, as cigarette ads rise, smoking also increases.
And, smoking now contributes every year for at least 350,000 deaths from tobacco. The cost
to society as a whole of smoking is also shocking. Cigarette smoking is responsible for an
additional $23 billion in health care expenses each year and more than $30 billion in lost
production, according to a new government survey. In addition, cigarettes are the nation’s