The overall health of our nation is of great concern to many, and in accordance with this, local governments all across the US have been placing bans on smoking in public. Yet there still exists many other factors attributing to the decrease in national health and it make one wonder: how fair is it that smokers must adjust their lifestyles when users of other toxic products like cologne and hairspray do not?

    It’s common knowledge that smoking damages the body, from cancer to major illnesses like heart disease, neurological disorders and other various health problems. If a smoker wants to harm his or her own health, then fine.  That’s his or her personal choice.

    If it’s negatively affecting the health of others, I can understand the ban to some extent. But following that logic, there are many other products that should be banned from public use for the same exact dangers.

    To have a ban on smoking for the welfare of our nation should logically lead to a ban on products such as perfume, hairspray and many other commonly used products that contain harmful pollutants recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency.

    The fact is: if smoking in public is being banned for being harmful, then equally dangerous products, like perfume and hairspray, should be banned, too.

    But perfume and hairspray can’t be dangerous, right?  People have been using these things for years!  

    And people have been inhaling their toxic contents for years, too.  Studies performed by the Environmental Protection Agency throughout the 90s until more recent years have shown that these seemingly harmless products contain chemicals such as ethanol, benzaldehyde, benzyl acetate, acetone, ethyl acetate, linalool, methylene chloride, benzyl alcohol and camphor.  

    These chemicals can lead to problems like muscle pain, asthma, joint aches, sinus pain, fatigue, sore throat, eye irritation, gastrointestinal problems, laryngitis, headaches, dizziness, swollen lymph nodes, spikes in blood pressure, coughing, and burning or itching skin irritations as reported on Immuneweb.org.  

    More extreme health issues that can develop due to the result of these products are kidney damage, convulsions, respiratory failure, or even death.

    With so many health problems developing as a result of products like hairspray and perfume, shouldn’t something be done about them, too?  It’s a little hypocritical to ban smoking in public places when there are plenty of other products that are harmful to users and those around them that get away scotch-free.

    If these household products aren’t banned, then why does
smoking have to be?