Tobacco products add to global pollution, says WHO

TOBACCO products are the most littered item on the planet, containing over 7,000 toxic chemicals, which leech into our environment when discarded, an official says.
“Roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute our oceans, rivers, city sidewalks, parks, soil and beaches every year,” Director of Health Promotion at the World Health Organisation Dr Ruediger Krech said on Tuesday to mark No Tobacco Day.
WHO also revealed new information on the extent to which tobacco damages both the environment and human health, and called for steps to make the industry more accountable for the destruction it is causing.
The WHO said that every year the tobacco industry cost the world more than eight million human lives, 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2.
The WHO report “Tobacco: Poisoning our planet” highlights that the industry’s carbon footprint from production, processing and transporting tobacco is equivalent to one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry each year, further contributing to global warming.
The WHO said products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also add to the build-up of plastic pollution.
Cigarette filters contain micro-plastics and make up the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide.
It said that despite tobacco industry marketing, there was no evidence that filters had any proven health benefits.
It urged policy-makers to treat cigarette filters, as what they were, single use plastics, and consider banning cigarette filters to protect public health and the environment.
“The costs of cleaning up littered tobacco products fall on taxpayers, rather than the industry creating the problem.
“Each year, this costs China roughly US$2.6 billion (about K9.1 billion) and India roughly US$766 million (about K2.69 billion).
“The cost for Brazil and Germany comes in at over US$200 million (about K704 million).
“Countries like France and Spain and cities like San Francisco, California in the USA have taken a stand.
“Following the Polluter Pays Principle, they have successfully implemented ‘extended producer responsibility legislation’ which makes the tobacco industry responsible for clearing up the pollution it creates,” the WHO said.
It urged countries and cities to follow this example, as well as give support to tobacco farmers to switch to sustainable crops, implement strong tobacco taxes (that could also include an environmental tax) and offer support services to help people quit tobacco.