Would it be far-fetched to hope for a smoke-free environment?I have no problem with smokers. I would not judge people who have the tendency to chew on their nails when they are nervous. Smoking is no different. It is a habit – not a healthy one, but I have plenty of friends who are smokers.

I do have a problem, however, with people who smoke while walking in the streets or waiting in line at a box office. The smoke does not discriminate or separate. It affects everyone and anyone the smoke reaches. There needs to be a ban on smoking in public spaces.

According to the American Lung Association Web site, secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in nonsmokers, including children. Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic. Secondhand smoke causes about 3,400 lung cancer deaths and up to 69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, according to the Web site.

Smokers make the choice to take the risk of becoming ill and dying prematurely due to their habits; nonsmokers do not. The fact that more than 70,000 people die each year due to inconsiderate smokers around them is a prime example of injustice.

When you are waiting in line with a group of people to purchase movie tickets, you do not know whom you are around. You may be blowing smoke in the direction of pregnant women, children suffering from asthma, or senior citizens.

You would not smoke in the presence of your five-year-old nephew. Why would you smoke in front of anybody else’s?

Many of you may be thinking, “Big deal, secondhand smoke cannot kill you unless you practically live in a room full of smoke.”

However, my point is not the fact that your smoking may kill everybody around you. My point is if your habit is disturbing anyone, who has the same rights to be walking in the streets of downtown, enjoying their time with friends and family, it needs to be taken elsewhere.

Besides all the above-mentioned tragic consequences of secondhand smoke, it contributes to headaches and nausea in many people. Secondhand smoke diminishes one’s comfort in breathing, which I would think is the most basic human right of all.

Another thing I have noticed is that many of these street smokers are underage. Because they are underage and would not be able to get away with smoking at home, they smoke outside, affecting innocent people’s lives. If there was a ban on smoking in public, then these young teens would not have anywhere to smoke, which may aid in solving the problem of teen smoking.

Ban public smoking, and all citizens will be able to make their own choices about how they maintain their health. We would be able to wait at a crosswalk without the wind bringing us poison to breathe.

Smokers would still be able to smoke, as long as they are in their private domain where the smoke could not reach innocent nonsmokers who care enough about their lungs to make the decision to not smoke. We have little control over where smoke might travel, so we need to at least make the effort to control where and around whom we are smoking.

Saerom Yoo is a sophomore news-editorial journalism major from Pusan, South Korea. Her column appears every Thursday.