What Would You Do ? Essay

Cosgrove who was the Cleveland Clinic’s chief executive. This particular clinic had recently stopped allowing smokers to work at their business. Leonhardt writes, “Cosgrove says that if it were up to him, if there weren’t legal issues, he would not only stop hiring smokers. He would also stop hiring obese people…people’s weight is a reflection of how much they eat and how active they are” (636-37). I thoroughly disagree with Cosgrove’s statements and here’s why.

In the United States, smoking cigarettes is the number one preventable cause of morbidity and death (Bergen, 1999), and accounts for $300 Billion in health care costs and economic productivity loss (Jamal, 2015). While the national smoking rate is 16.8% (CDC, 2016), specific demographics are more susceptible to developing smoking habits: people who live below the poverty line (10.9% higher), disabled or with a limitation (6.2% higher), and males (4.7% higher) (Agaku, 2014).

Every year, there are over 400,000 smoking-related deaths in the United States. A large percentage of these are due to lung cancer, whose leading cause is smoking. However, not all deaths are smokers themselves. Anyone in the vicinity can fall victim to second hand smoke. These people, through no action of their own, can have their lives threatened.

The Company’s pledge to provide a safe and healthy work environment bans smoking on Company properties, including but not limited to break areas, bathrooms, and work areas. Employees who smoke will be able to do so only on break and lunch times. They will have to go outside of the Company’s facility in the designated smoking areas on the property.

Dr. David L. Katz, A clinical professor of public health, and director of the prevention research center at Yale University School of Medicine expresses his opinion on public smoking in the following passage.

The Wegmans company is also very employee oriented. “As a family-owned U. S. regional supermarket chain, Wegmans Food Market ranked number five on the list and has opened more than 70 stores. More than 2,000 workers have enrolled in a free smoking-cessation program since 2009 and recently opened a new 24/7 health hotline.” (Wegmans

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH, 2007; Richardson (2001) argued that manual groups are likely to smoke heavier than the managerial groups and stated likely reason for this such as food insecurity, substitute for food, social environment, segregation and pressure, lack of good health and lack of confidence. In addition to this, epidemiology statistics reported by Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC, 2013 and Wanless, 2004) stated that smoking is more prevalent among the lower socio-economic groups and known to be key part of the disparities in life expectation between manual and non-manual groups. Therefore it is important something is done to eradicate inequality in the health of the general population.

Federal Restrictions and Guidelines in Smoking and Politics by A. Lee Frischlet and James M. Hoelfer

CVS is the first the first national pharmacy chain store to ban tobacco and focus on the health and well-being of its patients and customers (Drell, 2014). This is a nationwide initiative, however, it doesn’t immediate solve the problem, but it is a step in the right direction. In light of CVS’s removal of all tobacco products from its shelves, the drugstore chain plans to offer its customers robust smoking cessation programs (Drell, 2014). The target public is the heavy tobacco users—the age range differs but it includes both men and women.

Scenario: Matthew Joseph is a Freshman in college and he smokes two packs of cigarettes a week. Matthew’s great-grandfather, who was a solider in WW2 died from lung cancer and his farther as well as his uncle smoke habitually and have trouble breathing from time to time. Matthew says that he is aware of the deadly effects of cigarettes but he cannot stop because it keeps him from smoking marijuana. Matthew works at the local Bucee’s gas station to help pay for is car and phone bills. Matthew’s job does monthly drug testing for marijuana, cocaine, and other types of paraphernalia. Matthew states that “If smoking cigarettes allows me to keep my job and pay my bills then I want stop no matter how dangerous they are.”

Does the job position being filled-floor manager-make any relevant difference in this case? If not, can you think of a position where smoking would be relevant?

There are people that abuse their “smoking privileges”. I personally hate smoking but as long as they don’t abuse their privileges on “smoking breaks” I would be okay with it. I can’t discriminate against anyone, because I know there are habits of my own that some people I’m sure hate as well.

2. The CEOs took action by implementing the health and smoking programs. Although there we many alternatives, their action was focused on the individual’s choice: to participate or not. The decision then became that of the employee and not the “for the group.”

Nicotine is highly addictive, which is one of the reasons why it is so dangerous. The nicotine withdrawals a person might go through can be one of the biggest reasons they cannot/will not quit. Smokers may know the dangers it causes, but have too much difficulty quitting and it is no longer an option for them. They may decide to continue smoking, accepting the risks simply because of the psychological and physical traumas quitting takes them through. One of the employees fired by Weyco in Michigan due to its ban on smoking, Cara Stiffler, spoke out about the policy. She strongly disagrees with the ban and she believes that quitting smoking is a fight about personal liberty. She says “I want to quit, but I want it to be on my terms, not someone forcing me to make that

Of course one could quote ethical egoism here and argue that whatever the business of a company is, it is not responsible for its consumers and is right in selling its products for profits and every individual has the right to protect their interests which in this case would be their individual freedom to smoke cigarettes and evaluate by themselves how harmful smoking is to them. But this principal is based on an assumption that both entities; business and consumers are isolated from each other and information about cigarettes are available to all without discrimination. And this is of course is a very false assumption as we see in the movie of the continuous denial of the tobacco company in a lawsuit and under oath of the harmful effects and addictiveness of cigarettes due to nicotine and other carcinogenic substances in it. The obvious trick used by the seven executives of the tobacco company or “seven dwarves” in a lawsuit against them is the misuse of one of the arguments for lying to protect trade secrets in business by denying that they know that the substances in its product such as nicotine and coumarin is addictive and harmful to the user or smoker. Thus in conclusion the business itself is based on a premise of knowingly selling products that are absolutely injurious to the health of the consumer yet defending its interests by invoking their rights as a business to protect itself from disclosing information that will be used by other