Should smoking be prohibited?

Arguments

1. Smoking should be prohibited, for the World Health Organization points on that diseases linked to smoking kill at least 2 500 000 people each year.
2. Scientific research had shown that the risk of veloping lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the duration of the smoking habit, and it diminishes with the cessation of smoking.
3. Smoking not only leads to lung cancer, but many other diseases such as heart attacks, sore throat, headache, chronic bronchitis~, pulmonary emphysema~, etc.
4. Smoking is not only harmful to the smoker himself (herself), but also results in the deaths of nonsmokers. Statistics show that passive smoking is causing 3 000 to 5 000 lung cancer deaths a year among American non-smokers.
5. An American scientist estimated that smokers who average a package a day for 20 years will lose about eight years of their lives.
6. Smoking is an expensive habit, for a smoker who consumes 10 cigarettes a day will have to spend at least 40 yuan a month.
7. Smoking has a bad impact on the psyche~ of the smokers. On the one hand, smokers realize the bad effects of smoking and are persuaded from time to time to give up smoking. On the other hand, many of them can hardly resist the temptation to smoke. Hence they often lose confidence in themselves.
8. Children exposed to parental cigarette smoking are put at a higher risk of developing lung diseases later in their lives.
9. Smoking not only pollutes the air but also makes the streets dirty, for some smokers flick~ the ash off their cigarettes and throw cigarette ends everywhere.
10. Smoking speeds up the process of aging and helps cause wrinkles on people's faces.

Counter-arguments

1. Smoking should not be prohibited, for cigarettes give a vast number of people a good deal of pleasure a lot of the time.
2. Nicotine~ can produce a tranquillizing~ effect during high emotional and shock situations, and, therefore, helps to calm people down.
3. Smoking counteracts~ the decrease in efficiency that typically occurs in boring, monotonous situations.
4. Smokers can improve their performance in complex situations while smoking.
5. Smokers help increase the revenue~ of a country.
6. Smoking kills no more people than epidemics~ or traffic accidents.
7. Most non-smokers spend a lot of money on snacks~, a habit c123ng as much as smoking if not more.
8. If smoking is eliminated, a lot of people in the tobacco industry will be out of jobs, and that will create many social problems.
9. Facts have shown that if a chain-smoker suddenly quits smoking, he's more likely to have lung cancer than those who keep the habit.
10. Everybody has the right to keep his or her habit. Smokers are no exceptions.

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