Question

Read an editorial from a newspaper or magazine (preferred from the U.S). Then answer the following question: what is the claim? Is it explicit or implicit? What are some examples of the author’s support? Does the author make any assumptions about the audience? If so, how? Do you share the same assumptions or do you have a conflict? Please include the link of the editorial.

Answer 1

This is the editorial of the New York Times dated Sept 5, 2019,

This editorial is with respect to people falling sick from a vaping-related illness. There were about 450 people falling sick with the mysterious vaping related illness. Three people have died with this sickness and still the cause of the sickness is not found, still, and the mystery is not solved, but those who were suffering from the sickness were using E-cigarette.

The act is explicit because the people who use e-cigarette are consciously using it, although no one is sure about the result of using an e-cigarette. The reason of the sickness can be vitamin E acetate, an oil found in some of the vaping products, or there is a combination of device and the products that are being used because some of the oil used in the products are found in some marijuana-based vaping products.

The teenagers and the minors are the main victims, for example, an eight-year boy complained about breathlessness, and his lungs screening showed suffering from Vaping related sickness, and it was found that he was using the e-cigarette.

When the cases of minor and children complain about the sickness the congressional investigation found out that Juul, the nation’s leading e-cigarette maker was targeting minor children as young as 8, using social media, antismoking, and educational seminars with the context that e-cigarette will help children stop smoking, and get rid of tobacco smoking, claiming that it is absolutely safe.

The editors try to bring forward that although the e-cigarette was introduced a decade ago, the effect was not known, and the effect can be seen after a few years when someone uses it frequently, the side effect of the fragrance that is used in e-cigarette and is still not known.

There are some steps taken by the states Michigan became the first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes effective from Wednesday, and San Francisco has issued a ban of all e-cigarettes.

The Juul had invested large amount in his e-cigarette and tobacco companies and with the ban, the company will be at loss and that is why they are against the federal instruction of banning the e-cigarette, they are of the opinion that e-cigarette help a person quit tobacco smoking, as tobacco contains a component responsible for cancer.

In my opinion, the minor and teenagers have to restrain themselves from smoking whether it is e-cigarette or tobacco, because the manufacturers are more concerned about their profit, by the time the side effect starts appearing the people would be addicted, in fact, if one is not using tobacco smoking he is smoking e-cigarette whose side effect is still not known, the new products are always made attractive and makers are targeting the young minor children. It is the duty of the parents to make their children aware of the side effects of smokings whether it is e-cigarette or tobacco smoking.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/opinion/vape-health.html