Over 70% of the people who completed a survey recently on the Anoka-Ramsey Cambridge campus about the use of tobacco answered that they knew 10 or more people who smoke a regular basis.
Cigarette smoking is easily observed in American society, and this was confirmed by my survey on tobacco in which 100% of the respondents answered that they knew at least one or more person who smokes regularly. According to cancer.org, “It is estimated that more than 43 million adults currently smoke cigarettes.” Over 60% of the respondents of the tobacco survey also answered that they had one or more immediate family members who regularly smoke tobacco.
Tobacco smoke affects many people, even those whose immediate family members do not smoke regularly. Opinions about being in proximity to people who are smoking appeared to be polarizing in this survey. Given three choices of “very much dislike,” “slightly dislike,” or “don’t care,” respondents were divided equally between the two extremes. News is constantly surfacing about the laws of when and where smoking is allowed. In 2007 Minnesota became the 22nd state to pass a smoke-free law that restricts smoking in both restaurants and bars, according to Startribune.com. The respondents of the tobacco survey split about 50/50 on whether they “greatly disliked” or “did not care” about smoking in general.
Smoking is a controversial topic for many people, but statistics reveal its effect on personal health. Lungusa.org reports that, “Every year in the U.S. over 392,000 people die from tobacco-caused disease, making it the leading cause of preventable death.” Around 50% of the respondents to the tobacco survey reported a reaction of “did not care” about smoking in general.
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Good story! This kinda hits home for me because I have family members that smoke. I believe that smoking can be very harmful, but I find it hard to believe that so many people die in the U.S a year from that.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I would have changed about your story was to add how many people were in the survey. When you say 70%, was it 70% of the whole school, or of just 50 students? I think the chapter we took a quiz on yesterday talked about that...
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I really liked how you used outside sources to back-up the survey, that's a great idea! I think it helped emphasize other important aspects of the story.