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International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 03 No. 03 July’19
Editorial
Smoking as an Environmental Health Problem
Prof. Dr. M. Ihsan Karaman, MD
Correspondence to: M. Ihsan Karaman, MD, PhD, Professor of Urology, President FIMA, President
International Federation of GreenCrescents, Istanbul, Turkey. Email: mikaraman@hotmail.com
The use of tobacco and tobacco products,
particularly cigarettes, causes many diseases
that threaten human health. Despite all the work
carried out on a global scale, the use of tobacco
and tobacco products remains an important public
health issue.
In addition to the direct eects of cigarettes on
human health, such as cancer, immune system and
autoimmune disorders, premature deaths, type 2
diabetes, lung disorders, heart attack and stroke,
passive smoking-related complications and
pregnancy complications, they cause direct harm
on the environment and the ecosystem as well,
such as deforestation, generation of huge amounts
of toxic waste, air pollution through industrial
production process and farming, soil and land
pollution through farming and from cigarette butts,
air pollution through smoking, contamination of
waterways due to cigarette butts, health impacts
on aquatic fish, health impacts on pets and forest
fires and wildfires.
Therefore, we have to focus not only on the direct
eects of cigarette smoking on human health but
also its harmful eects on the environment and
the ecosystem. In this manner, we can see and
show damages broadly and can develop extensive
prevention strategies. Instead of using ordinary
slogans such as “Smoking is harmful to health and
causes damage to lungs” and studies emphasizing
only on the individual harms, we have to develop
preventive activities against the overall eects of
tobacco on the environment and the ecosystem.
Although we have seen and heard many times the
health hazards of tobacco and tobacco products
from public spots and warnings on the package,
we have to pay attention to how much the entire
ecosystem is aected from them.
As a medical doctor and an international activist
against addiction including tobacco, in the NGO
sector, I can write a long separate article on the
eects of smoking on health. However, in this
editorial,I am going to concentrate on its harmful
eects on our environment.
Eects of Cigarette Smoking on Environment
These direct eects of individual cigarette
consumption which threaten the human health;
are further increasing due to the harmful outcomes
of smoking on the environment and ecosystem.
Namely; tobacco smoke contain more than 4000
chemicals, of them many are toxic and carcinogen,
and their use causes environmental pollution
by releasing toxic wastes to the atmosphere.
Likewise, cigarette butts pollute the environment;
poisonous chemicals in the remnants of butts are
infiltrated into the soil and waterways, causing
soil and water pollution, respectively. Animals
that contact or ingest toxic substances in cigarette
residue / cigarette butts and sucking plants are also
adversely aected by cigarette smoking.
More than 5 trillion cigarettes are smoked
worldwide each year, and all of them are disposed
of in some manner. Smoking globally emits nearly
2.6 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide and 5.2
billion kilograms of methane into the atmosphere
each year due to the methods used to manufacture
cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The high scores of pesticides, fertilizers and
other chemicals used in the cultivation of tobacco
introduce volumes of hazardous pollutants to the
water and soils. These chemicals accumulate and
eventually hamper the fertility of the soils and
make the lands unsuitable for supporting any other
crop. Additionally, a publication even indicated
that an hour cigarette-manufacturing unit needs
about 4 miles of paper for rolling and packing
which translates to the destruction of one tree for
every 300 cigarettes made. Thousands of trees are
cut down for cigarette paper and its package. Most
of the ingredients present in cigarette butts, on the
other hand, are non-biodegradable and take years
to break down. On top of that, butts are also often
eaten by birds, fish, and other animals, who can
choke on them or be hurt from the poisons they
contain.
International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 03 No. 03 July’19 Page : 123-126
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31344/ijhhs.v3i3.89
International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 03 No. 03 July’19
124
As such, it’s not only the cigarette smoke that
causes manifold impacts on people and the
environment but also the cigarette butt and other
wastes released during the entire production
process of cigarettes. Interestingly, when people
hear about cigarette smoking, they often think of
the health risks it has on the human body. Many
fail look at the critical side topic which pertains
to how it harms the environment. However; the
impact of cigarette use on human health and
environment should be considered together.
The environmental lifecycle of tobacco can be
roughly divided into four stages:
(i) tobacco cultivation and curing;
(ii) product manufacturing and distribution;
(iii) product consumption;
and (iv) post-consumption waste.
By taking these stages into consideration,
environmental and health issues should be
identified together and policy recommendations /
prevention strategies should be established.
Here, we describe the environmental and health
concerns at each of these stages and propose
recommendations for policy-makers.
1.Tobacco Cultivation and Curing
The production of tobacco and tobacco products
causes widespread environmental degradation
around the world. It begins with the preparation
of land for tobacco cultivation and carries through
the life of these products as they are manufactured,
marketed and consumed. While the cultivation of
tobacco causes deforestation, the manufacturing
process of tobacco products releases many toxic
chemicals. The waste from production— much of
it toxic— and disposal of packaging and cigarette
butts pollute our fragile ecosystems.
The entire process of cultivating, curing, and
transporting tobacco needs the use of large
amount of chemical and other toxic materials. At
the same time, the production process generates
huge amounts of wastes such as harmful
chemical pesticides and fertilizers. One of the
habitually used substances in the production
process is known as Aldicarb. It’s highly toxic
to humans, plants and animals and can seep into
waterways and intoxicate the soil for several
years. Other toxic wastes generated from cigarette
production include Dithane DF, Imidacloprid, 1,
3— Dichloropropene, Chlorpyrifos and methyl
bromide which can harm plants, humans and
animals.
With the rapid increase in global tobacco
consumption in the late 20th and early 21st
centuries, the demand for tobacco leaf increased
dramatically. This has led to a correspondingly
dramatic increase in the amount of land dedicated to
tobacco production. Tobacco industry, which grew
rapidly with the increasing demand for tobacco
products, has begun to harm the environment more
than ever with the chemical wastes it produces.
Tobacco consumption, on the hand, continues to
harm both human health and environmental health
and the ecosystem increasingly in various ways.
As a consequence of expanded tobacco agriculture,
there are short-term economic benefits for some
farmers, but there will be long-term social,
economic, health and environmental detriments
for many others.
Frequently, farmers clear forested land that is
agriculturally marginal to grow tobacco—often
by burning—and/or harvest wood for curing.
Typically, after only a few seasons, the land is
quickly abandoned and becomes unusable, leading
in many cases to desertification. Not only does
burning generate vast amounts of land, water and
air pollutants, much of this land is cleared from
carbon dioxide-absorbing forest cover. As a result,
tobacco cultivation is exacerbating greenhouse
gas levels.
Tobacco cultivation is typically one of the most
chemically-intensive crops. Because much of the
land on which tobacco is grown is marginal, most
farmers heavily use inorganic chemical fertilizers
to promote growth and herbicides to mitigate
competing weeds. Because tobacco is typically
grown as a monocrop, it is also particularly
vulnerable to pests and most farmers heavily use
pesticides (to protect tobacco). Furthermore, in
many countries, there is evidence that farmers
continue to use chemicals that are restricted or
banned in most higher-HDI (human development
index) regions, such as the European Union.
2. Product Manufacturing and Distribution
Tobacco products generates many environmental
hazards in the manufacturing process as well
as in consumption. The tobacco manufacturing
process and all activities that use tobacco produce
solid or liquid wastes with high concentrations
of nicotine. In addition, tobacco manufacturing
produces chemical wastes, including nicotine, in
the manufacture of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless
tobacco, and other products. Many of these waste
products are potential environmental hazards.
The tobacco product manufacturing process
generates vast amounts of waste. The last
rigorous estimate, from 1995, suggested that the
industry produces more than 2.5 million tons of
manufacturing waste much of which contains
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International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 03 No. 03 July’19
nicotine and other dangerous chemicals. As global
tobacco production is greater than in 1995, this
negative impact can only be higher still today.
Once raw tobacco leaf has been grown by a farmer
and sold to a manufacturer, it must be processed
into a desirable consumer product. To maximize
profits, tobacco manufacturers want to make
products as attractive and addictive as possible.
While intensifying chemicals in the product
increase its “quality” and sale, its damage to the
environment and human health increases as well
and even more. The packaging and labeling of
tobacco products is resource-intensive in terms of
the paper, plastic and chemicals that manufacturers
use. Millions of tons of packaging waste, much of
it plastic, ends up as litter or helps to overwhelm
landfills around the world. Similarly, the disposal
of cigarette waste after consumption causes harm
to the environment.
3. Product Consumption and Post-Consumption
Waste
a. Cigarette Smoke
Smoking tobacco causes exposure to a lethal
mixture of more than 7000 toxic chemicals,
including at least 70 known carcinogens that
can damage nearly every organ system in the
human body. Smoking globally emits nearly
2.6 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide and 5.2
billion kilograms of methane into the atmosphere
each year. This provides a clear picture of how
smoking alone contributes to climate change.
These toxic particles in the atmosphere can hang
in the air for hours and it reduces the air quality of
the atmosphere. This pollution happening in the
atmosphere also causes cardiovascular diseases,
impairment in lung function and lung cancer.
Globally, 942 million men and 175 million women
ages 15 or older are current smokers. Nearly three
quarters of male daily smokers live in countries
with a medium or high human development index
(HDI), whereas half of female daily smokers live
in very high-HDI countries. (When we consider
these data) When we take this into consideration,
we can say that one in every six people causes air
pollution with tobacco smoke.
Air pollution is unarguably the greatest
environmental catastrophe in the world today. It
kills more people worldwide each year than does
AIDS, malaria, diabetes or tuberculosis. The most
harmful pollution consists of small particulate
matter, 2.5 microns in size or less, called PM. These
particles are small enough to work their way deep
into the lungs and into the bloodstream, where they
trigger heart attack, stroke, lung cancer and asthma.
Exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with
numerous adverse health eects, even among
children and unborn babies, and causes substantial
mortality and morbidity globally. In 2016 alone,
for example, it caused an estimated 884,000
deaths.
Exposure to secondhand smoke is common in
many countries, notably in Asia. In Indonesia and
Pakistan, for example, more than 80% of people
are exposed to secondhand smoke in restaurants.
However, the implementation of laws developed
under the smoke-free airspace greatly aects
the level of exposure to cigarette smoke. After
implementation of comprehensive laws in Turkey
in 2009, exposure prevalence in work-places and
restaurants dropped substantially— from 37%
and 56% respectively in 2008 to 16% and 13%
in 2012. That is to say, it is possible to decrease
passive smoking (second-hand smoking) resulting
from cigarette/tobacco smoke with preventive
policies! We are able to ensure that. Likewise,
we can also make possible the prevention of air
pollution caused by tobacco use by remarking the
issue and reducing the rates of tobacco product
use. Tobacco and tobacco product use do not aect
only users and their surroundings. It damages the
whole ecosystem.
b. Cigarette butts: Soil, water and other living
beings
Cigarette butts are non-biodegradable garbage,
toxic when ingested by humans and other living
things and leave chemicals and heavy metals in
the environment.
Cigarette butts are the most commonly discarded
piece of waste globally and are the most frequent
item of litter picked up on beaches and water edges
worldwide. The non-biodegradable cellulose
acetate filter attached to most manufactured
cigarettes is the main component of cigarette
butt waste and trillions of filter-tipped butts are
discarded annually.
Since cellulose acetate filters from cigarette butts
and plastic materials are non-biodegradable,
they remain in the nature for a long time and
accordingly damage the ecosystem. And we can
clearly see the wastes of cigarette consumption,
that is to say the cigarettes, cigarette packets and
gelatins while walking in the streets and on the
city pavements, using public beaches or sitting on
the beach.
The filters are made of cellulose acetate, sourced
from plastic, are photodegradable – can be broken
down by UV light but still take an extended
period to break down. The ingredients in the filter
International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 03 No. 03 July’19
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therefore remain in the soil for a long period of
time, up to 10 years as estimated by researchers.
As long as they are present in the soil, the soil
remains polluted.
With 6 trillion cigarettes manufactured annually,
about 300 billion packages (assuming 20 cigarettes
per pack) are made for tobacco products. Each
year, 6 trillion cigarette butts are infiltrated into
seas and oceans as a garbage causing a serious
threat to marine life. It takes up to 10 years for a
single cigarette butt to dissolve completely. These
cigarette pieces thrown around not only create a
bad scene, but also pose a threat to plants, animals
and even ground waters.
Fish have particularly been impacted by cigarettes
in countless ways. Whenever cigarette filters find
way into water systems, they can be ingested
by fish because they resemble fish food like the
insects. The filters remain within the fish reducing
their stomach capacity, thus aecting their eating
habits. The threat of cigarette butts against fish
is not limited with this. Research in the US also
found that the runo from just a single cigarette
butt can kill a fish in a 1 Liter jar of water. If this
is translated into the amounts of the cigarette butts
that find their way into water systems, it’s more
than clear the degree at which fish are impacted
every year. Humans are likewise not spared
if by any chance they ingest the chemicals by
consuming aected fish.
Similarly, the disposal of cigarette waste after
consumption causes harm to the environment. In
beach clean-up eorts around the world, cigarette
butts comprise the largest component of the waste.
Lastly, the fires caused by cigarette smoking and
butts cause great harm to the environment, beyond
their costs in terms of lives lost and direct economic
loss. Cigarette smoking is a major cause of both
house and forest fires throughout the world. In
both the USA and the United Kingdom, cigarettes
are the single greatest cause of fire-related deaths.
The forests fires started by burning cigarette butts
worldwide are countless. About 17,000 people
and countless living being worldwide die each
year because of fires started by cigarette lighters or
discarded burning cigarettes. In terms of property
damage, the losses are more than 27 billion US
dollars every year.
Conclusion and Suggestions
The production of tobacco and tobacco products
causes widespread environmental degradation
around the world. It begins with the preparation
of land for tobacco cultivation and carries through
the life of these products as they are manufactured,
marketed and consumed. After examining these
harms with its all dimensions, preventive strategies
should be developed.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control (FCTC) addresses environmental
concerns related to tobacco in Article 18, and
the need for alternative livelihoods for tobacco
growers in Article 17. However, this issue needs
to be addressed in a more comprehensive way.
For this, stronger regulations on tobacco
manufacturers can be developed to prevent the
tobacco industry from harming the environment.
Disposable (single-use) filters--including any
biodegradable varieties-- can be banned in order
to reduce waste in the manufacturing process.
Overuse of paper and plastic products can be
prevented to mitigate packaging. Based on the
level of the damage caused by the tobacco industry,
tax payment can be foreseen.
Tobacco farmers can be guided to find
environmentally-friendly alternative crops.
Farmers should be also informed to supply
and value chains of other locally-grown crops.
Extension services and agricultural education for
non-tobacco crops can be oered to them. Access
to credit for cultivating non-tobacco crops should
be provided easily for them. The WHO-FCTC
commitment should be applied to governments
not investing in tobacco farming. Governments
should help to educate the farmers who continue
to cultivate tobacco on environmentally friendlier
practices. Shortly, governments must help to
improve supply and value chains for alternatives
to tobacco leaf, and invest in farmers’ education/
re-training programs.
However, above all, with awareness studies
attention can be drawn to the fact that people have
been harming all living being before themselves
by using tobacco and tobacco products. You are
not only harming your health or the health of
your loved ones, but also harming the nature, the
environment, and all living being.
In sum, we underscore that while we continue to
face a very serious challenge, we have the tools to
make an enormous positive dierence.
