Call for a Blanket Ban on the Sale and Marketing of Cigarettes in the Essay

Call for a Blanket Ban on the Sale and Marketing of Cigarettes in the US - Essay Example People in the developed world and especially in the United States of America today approach the concept of health with an enhanced dedication and commitment. The food habits, lifestyles orientations and nutritional preferences are indeed altering in consonance with the guidelines and information available regarding health and healthcare. People today well understand that choosing a healthy lifestyle not only adds to the longevity, but also enables a person to be more productive and positive. However, relinquishing bad habits and making new choices does not seem easy when one intrudes into the area of addictive substances like tobacco. Moreover, the consumption of addictive substances like tobacco being legally valid and acceptable, most of the times people fail to realize that are the victims of a vicious addiction, which has the potential to take their life and to make them seriously sick. Considering this fact, the Federal Government should out with a law envisaging a pan-American ban on the sale and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products so as to reduce the healthcare costs, to save human lives and eventually to give way to a healthy and progressive society. The proposal for the coming into existence of such a law is not merely an emotive appeal, but is as much based on the existing data and information regarding the health implications of smoking. It goes without saying that to call for a blanket ban by the Federal government; it would be really pragmatic and reasonable to cull out the data from the existing government institutions and organizations regarding the mortality potential of smoking. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, â€Å"More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined (Online).† Also, smoking tobacco in any form are it cigarettes, cigars or pipe, has been found to considerably enhance the chance of dying from cancers of larynx, oral cavity, esophagus and lungs (CDC: Online). Cigarette smoking is responsible for one in every five deaths in the United States of America (CDC: Online). Cigarette smoking claims 443,000 lives every ear out of which 49,000 deaths are attributed to exposure to second hand smoke (CDC: Online). Men smoking cigarettes are 10 times more likely to die of bronchitis and emphysema and are 22 times more vulnerable to lung cancer (CDC: Online). The magnitude of the loss to human resources in the United States of America by cigarette smoking gets amply clear when one considers the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s claims that, â€Å"An estimated 46 million people, or 20.6 percent of all adults (aged 18 years and older), in the United States smoke cigarettes (Online).† Considering these figures one could also estimate the burden on the national and local healthcare systems that could be traced direct ly to cigarette smoking. So, when the government bodies are themselves aware of the health consequences of cigarette smoking on the nation’s population, considering the statistics provided by them, the Federal government should not have a problem or excuse regarding coming out with a blanket ban on the sale and marketing of cigarettes. In the

Art and Materiality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Art and Materiality - Essay Example However, some scholars and critiques of art settle on the 1970s as the cut-off period for the definition of the beginning of contemporary art. Contemporary art vividly integrates life because of its formalization of novel real life practices through artistry. It is widely admissible that contemporary artwork appreciates life practices by the conveyance of diverse notions that are inherent in most artworks. There are distinction between things and objects as applied in artworks but none of them solely dominates the materiality of art. Things are expressions of human relations to the world while objects express the extent of performance of the relationship expressed in an artwork. Objects, as used in art, best perform the role of an intermediary and a catalyst that communicate the assertion of the artist. In as much as different artist choose one of the two forms of materiality, objects or things, they may change from one to another. Art criticism is the comprehensive judgment of artwo rks based on diverse aspects. The vast dominance of a variety of art renders art criticism as one of the most interesting themes in exploring art and materiality. The criticism explores diverse facts about art including their qualitative judgments and determining whether artworks are objects or things. It allows the evaluation of art based on qualitative methods and an understanding of the quality of the artworks that determines the artists’ level of success. The diverse materiality aspects of visual arts addresses in art criticism include its conservation and the decorative value. The argument as to whether art is an expression that uses objects or things, however, may vary extensively. Artworks are a means of communicating ideas and thoughts of the artists. In some instances, it is to create social change and political transitions in another. Other artists, through their artworks, intend to explore the theme of social diversity among communities. Some artworks also inspire and empower historical issues through their cultural values. The role of the artwork dictates the consideration of art as an object or things. Cultural expressions, as a role of artwork would be achievable, best, by the use of objects that are representative of the culture depicted. Although the materiality of things can show value when used to express culture, artists prefer objects to things. In contemporary art, artists appreciate the existence of materiality as an important reason for their effort to explore nature and other aspects of life, in totality, through creativity. Contemporary art serves as the factor that combines human imagination to reality. The artworks of Jean Tinguely, a Swiss, attracted plausible interest in the 20th century. The exemplary manifestation of decline of modern industries and of species extinction of species remains an appreciation of things that exist in world as well as objects. The kinetic artwork that Tinguely displayed concentrated on the theme of destruction. He created artwork that displayed mechanical structures and dominated by objects that are part of human’s daily interactions. Most of his artworks experienced the predominating of the consequences of malfunctioning of objects. Chaos I is one of the most remarkable and historic arts by Tinguely. Damien Hirst’s shark forms one of the greatest artworks that attract massive numbers in most museums, to date. The controversial artwork by Hirst is unquestionably an impression of thoughts. This renders