The tobacco industry is ‘one of the biggest polluters we know’

According to the WHO report, the tobacco industry, in addition to its impact on health, generates considerable pollution throughout its production chain, from the use of precious resources such as water, the exploitation of land arable crops and deforestation, but also, the disease of farmers — often young children — to consumers who emit tons of CO₂ and carelessly throw his butt in the street.

Beyond its impact on public health, the tobacco industry is also the cause of environmental damage considerable, between mountains of pollution and emissions contributing to climate changewarned the World Health Organization on Tuesday (WHO).

The tobacco industry is one of the biggest polluters we know “, explained to AFP the director of the WHO for the promotion of health, Rüdiger Krech, presenting a report to the conclusions ” quite disastrous “. The document, titled Tobacco, poison for our planetlooks at the environmental footprint of the sector as a whole, from growing the plants to manufacturing tobacco products, including consumption and waste.

While the industry is responsible for the loss of 600 million trees, tobacco growing uses 200,000 hectares of land and 22 billion tonnes of water each year, and emits around 84 million tonnes of CO₂according to the report.

4.500 billion cigarette butts scattered in nature

” Tobacco products, which are the most commonly thrown away litter on the planet, contain more than 7,000 chemical compounds which, once thrown away, spread into the environment », continues Rüdiger Krech. Each of the 4,500 billion cigarette butts that end up in nature each year can pollute up to 100 liters of water, he points out.

The health hazards of tobacco are not limited to consumption and waste : nearly a quarter of tobacco growers suffer from green tobacco disease, a form of tobacco poisoning nicotine through the skin. In constant contact with tobacco leaves, these growers consume the equivalent of nicotine contained in 50 cigarettes a day, explains Mr Krech, who points out that the sector employs a large number of children. ” Just imagine: a 12-year-old child exposed to 50 cigarettes a day “, he concludes.

According to the report, tobacco is often grown in rather poor countries, where water and cultivated land are often scarce, and where these crops take the place of crucial food production. Tobacco cultivation is also responsible for about 5% of the deforestation in the world, and contributes to the depletion of precious water reserves.

Cigarette filters, 2^e source of plastic pollution

A significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions also comes from the processing and transport of tobacco: the equivalent of one fifth of the carbon air transport. The WHO also warns about tobacco-derived products — cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes — which contribute significantly to the accumulation of pollution plastic in the world.

The cigarette filters contain traces of micro-plastics, these small fragments found in the oceans around the world, including at the bottom of the mariana trenchthe deepest in the world, making it the second largest source of plastic pollution in the world.

Contrary to what the tobacco industry claims, there is however no evidence that these filters have a beneficial effect on health, underlines the WHO. The UN agency therefore urges policymakers around the world to treat these filters as single-use plastics, and to consider banning them.

She also laments that the gigantic costs of cleaning up the tobacco industry’s waste are borne by taxpayers around the world. According to the report, China spends about $2.6 billion annually to treat waste from tobacco products. For India, the bill amounts to 766 million dollars, while Brazil and Germany must pay 200 million dollars each.

The WHO therefore insists that more countries follow the example of France and Spain by adopting the polluter-pays principle. For Rüdiger Krech, it is important that ” the industry is really paying for the damage it is creating “.