Bronte Wells
Smoking is a major contributor to global air pollution. The tobacco industry cuts down 600 million trees every year, and commercial transport of tobacco products relies heavily on fossil fuels. The smoke itself contains over 7,000 toxic chemicals, and cigarette butts are the most common form of litter on the planet, polluting oceans, rivers, and soil. The carbon footprint of a single smoker is significant, and the environmental impact of tobacco cultivation is also harmful, with tobacco companies shifting 90% of their cultivation to lower-income countries to cut costs and circumvent regulation.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Cigarette butts | 766,571 metric tons of cigarette butts are discarded into the environment every year. |
| E-cigarette waste | Americans generated 6.92 kilotons of consumer electronic waste, including e-cigarette waste, in 2019. |
| Toxic chemicals | Tobacco contains more than 4000 chemical compounds, 60 of which are known carcinogens. |
| Water depletion | A smoker contributes almost five times more to water depletion than the average consumer of sugar in a year. |
| Fossil fuel depletion | A smoker contributes nearly ten times more to fossil fuel depletion than the average consumer of sugar in a year. |
| Climate change | A smoker contributes four times more to climate change than the average consumer of sugar in a year. |
| Deforestation | The tobacco industry cuts down 600 million trees every year. |
| Air pollution | Tobacco smoke is ten times more polluting to the air than diesel emissions. |
| Land pollution | Tobacco cultivation endangers food security, as it diverts agricultural land that could be used to grow food. |
| Plastic pollution | Cigarette filters contain microplastics and are the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide. |
| Cleanup costs | The cost of cleaning up littered tobacco products falls on taxpayers, costing China $2.6 billion and India $766 million annually. |
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What You'll Learn
Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter
Cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate, a man-made plastic material. They contain hundreds of toxic chemicals, which leech into the environment when discarded. These chemicals can remain in the environment for many years, even after the cigarette butt itself has degraded. Cigarette filters are the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide. They are also the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world, with about 4.5 trillion individual butts polluting the global environment.
The environmental impact of cigarette butts is particularly evident in waterways. Animals constantly ingest these plastics, provoking serious health risks, including suffocation and increased mortality. Cigarette butts have also been found in human tissues, raising concerns about their potential health impacts. The cost of cleaning up littered tobacco products is substantial, with China spending roughly US$2.6 billion and India spending US$766 million annually.
To reduce cigarette butt litter, interventions should focus on associating butts with litter and changing smokers' attitudes toward cigarette litter. It is important for smokers to recognize that cigarette butts are not biodegradable and are harmful to the environment. Additionally, governments can play a role by holding the tobacco industry accountable for the waste they produce and establishing product and packaging standards that reduce waste and hazardous chemicals.
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Tobacco farming contributes to deforestation
Tobacco farming has a significant environmental impact, contributing to deforestation and climate change. The tobacco industry has been labelled as "one of the biggest polluters we know of", with its carbon footprint from production, processing, and transportation equivalent to one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry annually.
Tobacco cultivation is a major driver of deforestation, the purposeful clearing of forested land. Approximately three million hectares of land, or just over seven million acres, are used for tobacco farming globally, and this land includes forests that are cleared, contributing to an estimated five percent of the world's total deforestation. The tobacco-growing regions are often in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where fragile ecosystems and potentially productive land are destroyed, impoverishing millions of families.
The process of tobacco farming involves clearing land, often by burning it, which releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, exacerbating climate change. The tobacco plant is resource-intensive, and once the land is cleared, it leads to soil degradation, decreased soil fertility, chemical runoff, water waste, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. The use of agricultural chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizers, some of which are known carcinogens, further contaminates the soil and degrades water quality.
To maximize yields and attain commercial quality, tobacco farmers often expand their cultivation areas, encroaching on adjacent forested land. This expansion contributes to the continuous loss of biodiversity and makes the remaining plants more susceptible to fires. The abandoned land after tobacco farming rarely regenerates, and the original biodiversity is typically lost permanently.
The social and economic injustices perpetuated by the tobacco industry through exploitative farming practices have been well-documented. Despite industry claims and corporate social responsibility (CSR) measures, tobacco companies have been accused of diverting attention from their environmental impacts and continuing business as usual. The push for higher yields and the lack of sustainable practices in tobacco farming have severe ecological consequences, and the industry's pollution extends beyond deforestation to the air, water, and soil.
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Cigarette smoke is more polluting than diesel emissions
Smoking is a major contributor to global air pollution. A controlled experiment reported in Tobacco Control found that the air pollution emitted by cigarettes is 10 times greater than diesel car exhaust. The experiment was carried out in a private garage in a small mountain town in northern Italy. The town has very low levels of particulate matter air pollution. A turbo-diesel 2-litre engine was started and left idling for 30 minutes in the garage with the doors closed, after which the doors were left open for four hours. The car was fuelled with low-sulphur fuel. Three filter cigarettes were then lit up sequentially and left smouldering for a further 30 minutes. The combined particulate levels in the first hour after the engine had been started measured 88 ug/m3, while those recorded in the first hour after the cigarettes had been lit measured 830 ug/m3—10 times greater.
The diesel engine exhaust doubled the particulate matter levels found outdoors at its peak, but the environmental tobacco smoke particulate matter reached levels 15 times those measured outdoors. The tiny particulate matter, less than 2.5 micrometres, is the most dangerous to health as it can penetrate right into the alveoli in the lungs, where carcinogens do the most damage. Aldehydes, for instance, damage plants and peoples' eyes and respiratory tracts. Nitric oxide, also produced by cigarettes, contributes to photochemical smog and drives ozone formation in cities.
The tobacco 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 industry cuts down 600 million trees every year, and commercial transport of tobacco products relies heavily on fossil fuels. Cigarette butts are the most common type of litter on the planet, with 47% of them being littered by smokers. In the US alone, five disposable e-cigarettes are thrown away every second, amounting to 150 million devices per year.
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Cigarette filters are made of single-use plastics
Cigarette butts are the most littered item on the planet, with an estimated 766,571 metric tons of them polluting the environment every year. They are particularly harmful to the environment because they contain plastic.
Cigarette filters are usually made from plastic cellulose acetate fibre, a non-toxic, odourless, tasteless, and weakly flammable plastic. This plastic is resistant to weak acids and is stable when exposed to mineral and fatty oils, as well as petroleum. While the plastic in cigarette filters biodegrades, it does so gradually, passing through a stage of microplastics. These microplastics are the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide.
The tobacco industry has historically marketed filtered cigarettes as safer than unfiltered cigarettes, but evidence shows that they are not less harmful and may even have increased health risks. Filters were first used from 1860 to 1920 to prevent particles of tobacco from entering the smoker's mouth. In the 1950s, when evidence emerged of a link between smoking and lung cancer, the tobacco industry introduced filters to reassure smokers that they were taking action to make cigarettes safer. However, there is no evidence that filters have any proven health benefits.
The environmental impact of cigarette filters can be reduced in several ways. One suggestion is to prohibit filter ventilation, which would make cigarettes less appealing and promote smoking cessation. Another option is to combine plain packaging legislation with removing colour as a distinguishing feature across cigarette packs to remove the association between packaging elements and filter ventilation. Implementing deposit/recycling laws, where a deposit is returned once the used cigarette is returned, could also help reduce the environmental impact of cigarette filters.
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Cigarette smoke is a Group A carcinogen
Smoking is a major contributor to global air pollution. Cigarette smoke is a Group A carcinogen, which means it is one of the most dangerous cancer-causing agents. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, of which more than 70 are known to cause, initiate or promote cancer. These carcinogens include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), N-nitrosamines, aromatic amines, aldehydes, volatile organic hydrocarbons, and metals.
The link between cigarette smoking and cancer was first established in the 1940s when epidemiological studies showed a clear connection between smoking and lung cancer. Experiments in the 1950s confirmed that the chemicals in cigarette smoke could cause cancer in mice. Since then, scientists have discovered that cigarette smoke contains carcinogens that can bind to DNA, corrupting the blueprint of life and leading to mutations that cause cancer. This process has been dubbed the "smoking signature".
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies a chemical as a carcinogen when scientific studies provide sufficient evidence of its cancer-causing capabilities in humans, animals, and other relevant sources. Tobacco smoke has been classified by the IARC as a Group 1 carcinogen. Exposure to the carcinogens in tobacco smoke increases the risk of developing cancer, with cigarette smoking responsible for a large fraction of bladder, head and neck, lung, and oesophageal cancers.
The environmental impact of tobacco extends beyond the dangers of second-hand smoke. Cigarette butts, which are the most common type of litter on the planet, leech toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and residual nicotine into the environment, polluting water, air, and land. The tobacco industry's carbon footprint from production, processing, and transportation is equivalent to one-fifth of the CO2 emitted by commercial airlines annually, further contributing to global warming.
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Frequently asked questions
Smoking is a major contributor to global air pollution. The tobacco industry cuts down 600 million trees every year, and commercial transport of tobacco products relies heavily on fossil fuels.
Smoking can lead to a range of diseases affecting every organ of the body, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, lung disease, COPD, and more.
Tobacco cultivation endangers food security by diverting agricultural land that could be used to grow food. Tobacco farming also contributes to soil degradation and deforestation.
Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter on the planet, with an estimated 4.5 trillion filters polluting our oceans, rivers, and soil every year. They contain toxic chemicals that leech into the environment.
Smoking has a significant impact on water depletion. A single smoker can be associated with a water footprint of 1,355 cubic meters, equivalent to almost 62 years' worth of water supply for three people.
