Tobacco and Alcohol

As you can see, people ask, "Why is there a need to implement the said bill?" so my dear friends, in answering that said question, here are the main reasons why we do need to implement this bill:

First, tobacco and alcohol consumption has been linked to a variety of medical problems which mostly leads to death.

Tobacco consists of nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar that severely damage a person's cells. Tobacco claims number of lives of more than 87,000 people in the country by NCD or "Non-communicable Diseases" which include the country's two top killing diseases, lung cancer and heart diseases. Tobacco also causes stroke and asthma. These diseases are silent disasters in which victims suffer quietly. Additionally, most of these often associated with the poor and the disadvantaged, and a large percentage of Filipinos who would usually die before reaching 65 years old.

The Laylo Research Strategies conducted survey nationwide from august 7-17, 2012 with a total of 1,500 respondents. The result showed that 31% of regular smokers profess they will slowly stop smoking and 17% of them say they will stop smoking immediately.

On the other hand, alcohol also destroys human body. It increases the risk of a number of diseases such as liver cirrhosis, sleeping disorders, infection of the esophagus, stomach and pancreas, hypertension, and heart problems. It also plays an important role in regression. About 40 percent of all incidents involving aggression, violence on the streets and domestic violence occur while under the influence of alcohol.

Alcohol affects human brain. A person who is under the influence of alcohol has a difficulty in walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slowed reaction time and impaired memory. Moreover, it can make people irresponsible.

Second, the risk of smoking tobacco and alcohol drinking are not only limited to the smokers and drinkers themselves but it affects non-smokers and non-drinkers as well.

Smokers can undermine the health of the non-smokers once they are in the same environment. The smoke exhaled by the smoker and the smoke floating around the air combines and makes up secondhand smoke also known as "environment tobacco smoke". According to the report of the Surgeon General in 2006, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke for it can cause immediate damage as well as contribute to the development of numerous diseases including lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, non malignant respiratory disease and heart disease. It is also thought to cause breast cancer and cervical cancer.

There are also risks of secondhand smoke to children. These include low birth weight for gestational age, sudden infant death syndrome for children whose mother smoked during pregnancy, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, wheezing, and middle ear disease.

The same goes with alcohol drinking, that