430 PERSUASIVE SPEECHES FOR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The Dangers of Chewing Tobacco
1 On March 30, Tom, a twenty–three–year–old man from northern Wisconsin, went in for
his yearly dental checkup. As far as he could tell, there were no real problems except maybe the
one or two usual cavities that the dentist always seems to find. The dentist began poking around
at Tom’s teeth, but soon became more interested in Tom’s lower lip and gums. The dentist no-
ticed an unusual growth on Tom’s lower lip and asked if Tom was a regular user of chewing to-
bacco. Tom answered yes.
2 After a series of tests, Tom was diagnosed as having a deadly type of oral cancer. Just
6 Now you know that chewing tobacco is widespread, but you may wonder what could
possibly happen when a person uses chewing tobacco. Well, smokeless tobacco has multiple dan-
gers according to the American Dental Association and the American Cancer Society. First, tooth
decay and tooth loss can occur. Chewing tobacco contains grit and sand, which wear away at the
teeth. It also contains added sugars to improve the taste—but they also wear away at the teeth,
leading to cavities and tooth loss.
THE DANGERS OF CHEWING TOBACCO 431
7 Another effect of chewing tobacco is gum disease. Regular use of chewing tobacco causes
visual gum damage in less than two to three months. According to the American Dental
Association, about half of all teenage users have some type of gum problem. But what’s wrong
with gum disease? Well, it causes the gums to pull away from the teeth, which further increases
the risk of tooth decay and loss.
8 Gum disease and tooth loss are serious enough, but as we saw at the beginning in the story
about Tom, chewing tobacco can have most serious consequences. According to the American
Dental Association, those who use chewing tobacco just once in a while have four times the risk of
developing oral cancer than do nonusers. And if that isn’t bad enough, those who use chewing
tobacco three or more times a week for over a year have fifty times the risk of developing cancer
than do nonusers. This risk is even greater than that of smoking cigarettes. But unlike smoking
cigarettes, where cancer develops slowly over time, chewing tobacco can cause cancer in teens and
young adults.
9 For example, Sean Marsee, a nineteen–year–old high school student from Oklahoma, was
one of the most well–liked students in his senior class. Sean used chewing tobacco from age
twelve to age eighteen, when he was diagnosed as having oral cancer during his senior year in
high school. As a result, Sean had to have a series of disfiguring operations. First three–fourths of
his tongue was removed. Then all the muscles and lymph nodes on the right side of Sean’s face
and neck were removed. And lastly his jawbone was removed from her to here. As you can imag-
ine, Sean was left looking quite grotesque. But this was not the worst part. As extreme as the
surgery was, it could not stop Sean’s cancer from spreading, and he died just one year later. There
can be no doubt that chewing tobacco caused Sean’s death.
10 I know this is a terrible thought, but the point I’m trying to make is an important one.
You must be aware of the terrible consequences of chewing tobacco because next time it could
happen to you or to someone you love.
11 Let’s look, then, at what can be done to diminish the use of chewing tobacco. First, the
432 PERSUASIVE SPEECHES FOR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
as role models. Children think if it’s all right for athletes to use chewing tobacco, it must be all
right for me to do it too. If these role models would stand up and say chewing is wrong, many of
our children would change their minds about the drug.
14 What we need, then, is a ban on chewing tobacco use during professional sporting events.
THE DANGERS OF CHEWING TOBACCO 433
The Dangers of Chewing Tobacco
Commentary
“The Dangers of Chewing Tobacco” is an excellent persuasive speech that illustrates how students can
make effective use of all the methods of persuasion discussed in Chapter 17 of the textbook. Here is a
synopsis focusing on those methods of persuasion.
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that the laws governing the sale of chewing tobacco
should be strengthened and that professional athletes should refrain from using chewing tobacco
during games in order to reduce the problem of chewing tobacco use among young adults.
Central Idea: The dangers of chewing tobacco pose a serious problem that can be curbed by state
legislation and by banning the use of chewing tobacco during professional sporting events.
Method of Organization: Problem-solution
Introduction: The introduction consists of paragraphs 1–4. The speaker begins with an extended ex-
434 PERSUASIVE SPEECHES FOR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The speaker’s use of examples is complemented by her use of statistics in paragraphs 5, 7,
8, and 12. The most dramatic instance of this is the extended example of Sean Marsee in para-
graph 9 that gives a personal dimension to the statistics cited in paragraph 8. Less dramatic, but
equally effective, is the speaker’s method in paragraph 5. After stating that the average age of
first use of chewing tobacco is “just ten years old,” she explains that this means “many children
are chewing tobacco when they are in fourth grade.” Then, after noting that 21 percent of kin-
dergartners have tried chewing tobacco, she exclaims, “Children are using chewing tobacco be-
fore they can even read the warning labels!”
Testimony plays less of a role in this speech than do examples and statistics. The speaker
uses testimony in three places. In paragraph 6, she cites the American Dental Society and the
American Cancer Society on the multiple dangers of chewing tobacco. In paragraph 11, she cites
the Department of Law Enforcement to note that laws regulating the sale of chewing tobacco in
Wisconsin have been ineffective. In paragraph 13, she cites a statement from the American
Dental Association that the use of chewing tobacco by role models is the primary reason
children develop an interest in it.
Reasoning: The speaker relies primarily on causal reasoning and analogical reasoning. She uses
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