UN agency disclosure that The tobacco industry costs the world more than eight million lives every year. As well as the human cost, 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tons of water and 84 million tons of CO2 are used in tobacco production.
Much of the environmental costs fall on low- and middle-income countries, where water and farmland are used to grow tobacco, rather than produce food, which is often needed.
The WHO report “Tobacco: Poisoning our planet“Emphasize that the industry’s carbon footprint from tobacco production, processing and transportation is comparable to 1/5 of the CO2 produced by commercial aviation each year, contributing to further global warming.
Unsplash / Lex Guerra
Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death.
Trillions of filters pollute the planet
Dr Ruediger Krech, WHO Director of Health Promotion, said: “Tobacco products are the most wasteful on the planet, containing more than 7,000 harmful chemicals, which can enter our environment. when we are discarded”. “About 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute our oceans, rivers, city sidewalks, parks, land and beaches each year.“.
Products such as cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also add to plastic pollution. Tobacco filters contain microplastics and constitute the second highest form of plastic pollution worldwide.
WHO is calling on policymakers treat cigarette butts like any other single-use plasticand consider banning them, to protect public health and the environment: despite marketing by the tobacco industry, there is no evidence that filters have any proven health benefits.
© FAO / Amos Gumulira
Farmers process their tobacco for sale at his market in Mzingo Village, Malawi.
Make polluters pay
The cost of cleaning up littered tobacco products rests with the taxpayer, not the industry creating the problem. Each year, this figure costs China about 2.6 billion USD and India about 766 million USD. The cost for Brazil and Germany is more than 200 million dollars.
However, countries like France, Spain and cities like San Francisco, California in the USA are holding their ground. Following the “polluter pays” principle, they have successfully implemented legislation that holds the tobacco industry accountable for cleaning up the pollution it generates.
WHO urges countries and cities to follow this example, as well as support tobacco farmers to switch to sustainable crops, implement strong tobacco taxes and provide support services to help people quit. cigarette.
