Environment

Worldwide, tobacco production takes place in more than 100 countries. The majority of tobacco growing takes place in developing countries, the top 5 producers being China, India, USA, Brazil and Turkey.

The growing of tobacco impacts negatively on the environment in several ways:

Tobacco drying

• Because tobacco plants are very prone to disease, huge quantities of pesticides are used during their growth. Common pesticides used to reduce the risk of disease include aldicarb and chlorpyrifos, which are both highly toxic chemicals. There is a lack of formal monitoring of the impact that these chemicals, amongst many others, have on the environment, but it is generally agreed that when they escape through the soil and into water systems and food chains, they can cause irreversible damage.
• Not only are tobacco farmers at risk from the pesticides used to grow their crop, they are also prone to ‘green tobacco sickness’ which is caused as a result of absorbing nicotine through their skin by direct contact with wet tobacco leaves. Nausea, general weakness, dizziness, abdominal cramps, and fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rates are all common symptoms of ‘green tobacco sickness’.
• Following the harvest, tobacco is cured to preserve it for storage, transportation and processing.  Most tobacco is flue cured which involves passing heated air through the harvested leaves.  In many developing countries trees are cut down to provide fuel for this process and for the construction barns to accommodate the curing process.   It is estimated that 200,000 hectares of woodland is removed by tobacco farming annually for this purpose alone. 

The farming of tobacco plants means that there is less space to grow essential food crops. Farmers may choose to grow food crops in between their tobacco crop, but tobacco plants tend to drain the soil of essential nutrients thus affecting the healthy growth of food crops. The reduction in space to farm, accompanied by the poor quality of food crops has a direct impact on the farmer and his/her family’s health i.e. lack of food.

A lot of the impact on the environment takes place during the farming, production and transportation of tobacco. However, once the final product has been consumed new environmental issues arise. A survey by the Tidy Britain Group found that cigarette ends account for about 40% of items of litter on the UK's streets . Every day, UK smokers throw away about 200  million butts and 20 million packets, many of which end up on the ground. All around the world, beaches are littered with cigarette butts and empty cigarette packets.