Tobacco: a severe threat to environment

Manish Gajbhiye

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, May 30:

Every year ‘World No Tobacco Day is celebrated on May 31, 2022. This year the theme of this day is ‘Protect our Environment’. Tobacco is harmful to human beings, but it is also affecting the environment. Hence, awareness about the harm to the environment due to tobacco should be created among the people, the experts opined.

There is a huge number of people smoking in public. The cigarette filters are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate. When tossed into the environment, they dump not only plastic, but also nicotine, heavy metals, and many other chemicals. It is obvious that they are absorbed into the surrounding environment and caused various environmental problems.

Similarly, cigarette and e-cigarette waste pollutes soil, beaches, and waterways, harmful to humans and wildlife.

Tobacco cultivation is responsible for a myriad of environmental problems, including land and water pollution due to pesticides. Tobacco plants are prone to many insect pests, and therefore tobacco farmers are forced to use pesticides to keep the plants healthy. Not only do tobacco growers often get sick from the pesticides, but the pesticides also leach into the soil and water. Also, the land requirement for Tobacco crops is increasing rapidly and this is converted into mega deforestation.

Need Awareness

Environmentalist and Director of Prayas Foundation, Ravi Chaudhary said tobacco and tobacco products are severe harm to the environment. Now we need to stop this as we have already made a disaster in the environment. There is a need to create awareness among the people in this regard.

Non-smokers hamper

Director of Sarvodaya Deaddiction Centre, Vilas Chandane said, the ill effect of smoking is not only on the smokers but also on the non-smokers. Many persons including women have the habit to chew tobacco and spit everywhere, this is a severe threat to humans and the environment.

• Cigarette butts cause pollution by being carried, as runoff to drains and then to rivers, beaches, and oceans.

• Organic compounds (such as nicotine, pesticide residues, and metal) seep from cigarette butts into aquatic ecosystems, becoming acutely toxic to fish and microorganisms.

• The roadside waste on soil found that patterns of hydrocarbon levels in the soil were similar to those of littered cigarette butts.