We all know that tobacco is a health threat! it's nothing new! And there are extensive studies that confirm it, but, little has been documented on how they are affecting the tobacco industry to the environment.
What is happening with crops, production, distribution or waste produced by large tobacco companies… Are they having consequences important environmental issues?
First, some numbers to start seeing the impact of the tobacco industry on the environment:
Directly, the World Health Organization Salud looks at the tobacco industry for provoking widespread deforestation, to divert the production of food or water, and many other atrocities before the new report published by the WHO with the catchy title of «Tobacco: poisoning our planet» (Tobacco: poisoning our planet).
The document examines the repercussions of the entire life cycle of tobacco products; since growth from plants to manufacturing, through consumption and waste.
The following image from the report illustrates how each stage of the tobacco life cycle affects several factors:
In the report issued by the WHO there are enough data devastating, and, above all, you show them to us with numbers…
Content menu:
1.- Farmers with deficient health and economy
Tobacco farmers and their families They are exposed to various risks. Up to 25% of Tobacco growers are affected by the tobacco disease green tobacco (nicotine poisoning). without counting with exposure to “tobacco dust” and pesticides chemicals they use.
Farmers often have contractual agreements with the tobacco industry. They are caught in a vicious cycle of debts for buying seeds and products chemicals, when in fact they should benefit fully out of the lucrative market of tobacco.
2.- Intensive use of agrochemicals
Tobacco cultivation requires intensive use of both resources, such as pesticides and fertilizers. These products Chemicals enter the aquatic environment contaminating rivers, lakes and sources of drinking water.
3.- Depletion of resources water
A single cigarette requires the use of almost 3.7 liters of water throughout its life cycle; from cultivation, manufacture, transport and use, up to the removal.
If we do the numbers, this equates to 15 million swimming pools Olympic, or the volume of water poured by the Amazon in a day. Not to mention that it needs up to 8 times more water than tomato and potato plants.
4.- Soil degradation and deforestation
The need to create space for the cultivation of tobacco and obtaining wood for curing causes deforestation important.
Tobacco cultivation represents around 5% of the total deforestation that occurs on the planet. It must be taken into account that every year they are cleared approximately 200,000 hectares of land for agriculture and tobacco curing.
5.- Carbon emissions
The life cycle of tobacco has a major impact on the energy, water and many other resources. Taken together, these processes generate a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions carbon.
For comparison, it is estimated that they are equivalent to 3 million of transatlantic flights crazy! And let's remember the impact of paper on the environment, which also goes for the same path.
1.- Contamination from packaging and transportation
It is estimated that every year 6 billion cigarettes. 300,000 million of packages made up of paper that need to be transported contributing to CO2 pollution (Of interest to know also the environmental impact of concrete).
In addition, all box and cardboard waste used in the distribution and packaging of the products produce about waste of at least 2 million tons, which equivalent to the weight of 9,433 freight trains.
2.- Multitude of toxic waste that contaminates all types of water
Discarded butts around the world pose a danger for the environment, they also produce millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Filters also release nicotine into ecosystems, chemicals they have absorbed and other metals heavy.
3.- Air pollution
Tobacco smoke contains three important greenhouse gases greenhouse (CO2 methane and nitrous oxides), in addition to other atmospheric pollutants.
Tobacco smoke produces more pollution by particles that the exhaust gases of the engines Diesel. Not counting the possible fires that They are produced by poorly extinguished cigarette butts.
4.- New waste electronics
The new wave of electronic cigarettes and all its components represents a major concern environment, above all, the elimination of cartridges and relevant batteries.
Many of these products are single-use disposables made with non-biodegradable and non-recyclable materials that can cause significant damage to the environment and ecosystems.
The WHO report has a comparator chart so that we can better understand the impact it is having on the global environment:
The tobacco industry is playing its part very well with the green face wash (greenwashing). Most of us believe that its products and practices are sustainable, even when you generate 4.5 trillion butts in cigarettes that pollute the environment.
The findings are quite devastating, Ruediger said. Krech, director of health promotion at WHO, who called the industry “one of the largest contaminants that we know of».
The WHO insists that countries should begin to take more seriously the principle of "who pollutes pay” …. It would be fair, wouldn't it?
