World health English news | World health, Latest News & Live Updates in English | English News (Latest English News) at Lokmattimes.com

The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed new information on the extent to which tobacco damages both the environment and human health, calling for steps to make the industry more accountable for the destruction it is causing.Every year the tobacco industry costs the world more than 8 million human lives, 600 million trees, 200 000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2.The majority of tobacco is grown in low-and-middle-income countries, where water and farmland are often desperately needed to produce food for the region. Instead, they are being used to grow deadly tobacco plants, while more and more land is being cleared of forests.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."Tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, containing over 7000 toxic chemicals, which leech into our environment when discarded. Roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute our oceans, rivers, city sidewalks, parks, soil and beaches every year," said Dr Ruediger Krech, Director of Health Promotion at WHO.Products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also add to the build-up of plastic pollution. Cigarette filters contain microplastics and make up the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide.Despite tobacco industry marketing, there is no evidence that filters have any proven health benefits. WHO calls on policy-makers to treat cigarette filters, as what they are, 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 and India roughly US$ 766 million. The cost for Brazil and Germany comes in at over US$ 200 million (see table below for further estimates).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.WHO urges countries and cities to follow this example, as well as give support to tobacco farmers to switch to sustainablecrops, implement strong tobacco taxes (that could also include an environmental tax) and offer support services to help people quit tobacco.( With inputs from ANI )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

World HealthFOLLOW

World health, Latest News

Ottawa, June 4 Canada has confirmed 58 cases of monkeypox, the country's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam ... ...

Thirty non-endemic countries have reported more than 550 confirmed cases of monkeypox, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. ...

Mexico City, June 1 The tobacco industry and tobacco consumption are exacerbating soil, air and water pollution, along ... ...

Budapest, June 1 Hungarian health authorities have confirmed the country's first case of monkeypox in a 38-year-old man. ... ...

New Delhi, May 31 In view of the increasing number of Monkeypox cases being reported from the non-endemic ... ...

Geneva, May 31 While tobacco is harmful for human health, it also causes severe damage to the environment. ... ...

Geneva, May 31 It may be too early to say whether the recent monkeypox outbreak, which has spread ... ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed new information on the extent to which tobacco damages both the environment and human health, calling for steps to make the industry more accountable for the destruction it is causing. ...