by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: November 05, 2011   Last Updated: May 31, 2012

Smoking, a habit once embraced as part of everyday life, even endorsed by medical professionals, has come under increasing attack as evidence of the health implications of smoking tobacco have become clearer. First smoking was outlawed on almost all planes. Now many countries enforce a ban on smoking in workplaces (including bars and restaurants, much to smokers' chagrin) and some areas are pushing ahead with legislation to ban the practice in all public places. Is this fair? Should smoking be allowed in public places?

Smoking is an addictive habit. If there was any doubt about that, you just have to go to the UK, or New York, or any other country with inclement weather where smoking is banned in bars and restaurants. The crowds of utterly miserable smokers puffing away on the pavement in drizzle, snow and driving winds are clearly not out there through choice. They literally can't make it through a couple of hours in the pub without having a cigarette, so instead they brave surroundings that look like one of the less pleasant circles of hell, to indulge their habit. Is it fair that smokers should be penalised and ostracised for their dependency?

The difference between smoking and other addictions is that smoking also causes damage to the people around smokers, in a way which licking frogs or injecting weird substances into your eyeballs just doesn't (apart from maybe the frogs, but they enjoy being licked, the flirts). Passive smoking is just as good at causing cancer as a 40 a day habit. Even if you're outdoors, all that fresh air won't stop you inhaling a chestful of carcinogens if you're standing near someone smoking.

So given that the habit is deadly to addicts and the people around them alike, and given that increasing awareness of this fact has made smoking socially unacceptable, why should it be allowed in any public place? If people wish to shorten their lifespan and ruin their looks, that's their business, but in the interests of everyone else's health and quality of life, wouldn't it be better if they just did so in their own homes, their own cars (but not in front of the children as this was declared tantamount to child abuse in 2010 in the UK) and far away from anyone else?

Smokers can be a feisty lot though, and some have even claimed that the increasing restrictions on smoking are nothing less than an attack on their human rights. Here's a clue, guys, if you're free to complain that your

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