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Smoking costs the Earth too

It's a year since smoking was banned from enclosed public places but another threat may have been made worse as a result of the legislation. In Britain, cigarettes are the principal source of street litter, accounting for 70 to 90 per cent in urban areas. And they're just as bad for our planet's health as our own.

'Anyone walking down the street these days, especially around bars and clubs, will see streets awash with cigarette ends,' says Ginette Unsworth, spokeswoman for Keep Britain Tidy. 'Since the introduction of the smoking ban last July, we've seen a 43 per cent increase in cigarette litter on our streets. People don't always think of butts as proper litter,' she continues. 'Smokers who might not drop any other kind of litter drop cigarette ends because they don't want to set a bin alight and because they think the ends will biodegrade. But they don't and they can cause huge problems.'

Most smokers are under the impression that cigarette filters are made of cotton. Instead, they are made from packed fibres of cellulose acetate and take up to a decade to break down. Filters also trap formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and 'tar' - which is the residue of some of the 160 other chemicals in a cigarette.

All of this finds its way into the environment. Cigarette butts on the streets wash away into drains and rivers, and reach our oceans. Worldwide, they're the most common item of beach litter. Last July, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) teamed up with Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and naturist campaigners in Brighton for the No Butts On The Beach! campaign, giving away pocket ashtrays on a naturist beach to highlight the issue. 'We have documented cases where they've been found in the guts of whales, dolphins, seabirds, fish and turtles,' says Emma Snowden, MCS litter projects co-ordinator.

'Filters also absorb tar and chemicals that can leach into the water. Some experiments have shown that just one cigarette filter is toxic enough to kill water fleas in eight litres of water. That gives an idea of the potential impact it can have.' Growing tobacco is also damaging. It's a chemical-heavy process, using vast quantities of fertiliser, herbicides and pesticides, much of which washes away into the environment. The soil is commonly fumigated with methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting chemical, before seedlings are planted.

'A lot of tobacco companies say they give farmers the best protection but that's often not the case,' says Amanda Sandford, research manager at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). Tobacco growing and curing processes are a major cause of deforestation, which, in turn, causes erosion. More tobacco crops also mean fewer food crops are being grown, says Sandford. 'It's a profitable crop for tobacco companies but not that profitable for farmers, because they tend to be caught in a system that tobacco companies impose on them. They don't often make a decent living out of it.' These issues might surprise smokers, Sandford suggests. 'Many just see the effect of smoking as litter on the street,' she says. 'People might be less likely to smoke if they're fully aware of the environmental, as well as the health, factors.'

Source: The Metro, 30th June 2008
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