Tobacco: Smoking in Public There are many controversial topics in the minds of Americans today such as abortion, use of guns and one of the most controversial topics is smoking in public. There are many things that can happen when smoking, such as causing air pollution, illness in non-smokers and ultimately harm to smokers themselves. Tobacco smoking kills thousands of people every year and injures hundreds of thousands every day, such as children. Federal officials have released a massive report that is spurring renewed efforts to ban smoking in public places. Secondhand smoke has been classified as a known carcinogen, this classification is shared by only ten other pollutants. (These pollutants include benzene, asbestos and smoke inhaled directly from cigarettes. Gov. Mario Cuomo has asked the Legislature to ban smoking in schools, and anti-smoking advocates said they would target airlines and fast-food chains for bans similar. The risk of developing lung cancer due to tobacco smoking is 1 in 1,000 for nonsmokers and 2 in 1,000 for nonsmoking spouses of smokers for smokers it is 70 in 1,000. Passive smoking causes between 150,000 and 300,000 cases of bronchitis, pneumonia and similar infections in children under 18 months and worsens the condition of between 200,000 and 1 million asthmatic children people to smoke in one part of a restaurant and not allow it in another when in the end the non-smoking section breathes in the smoke Secondhand smoke is a human carcinogen that kills approximately 3,000 nonsmokers in the United States each year due to lung cancer. Cigarette smoking is responsible for 150,000 to 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections in children up to 18 months of age.