Jordan Randall English 1500 Sarah Einstein November 20, 2013

Research Paper When individuals smoke cigarettes, are they aware of what that cigarette is doing to the environment? It is not so much the smoke, but what went into making that cigarette and what gets left behind. For years, smoking and buying cigarettes was the norm and socially accepted, but with new research surfacing, it seems as maybe the tobacco and cigarette industry is causing more harm to the environment that previously thought. With time only moving forward, the amount of damages from cigarettes and tobacco are also only increasing. The tobacco industry is contributing to massive deforestation, the cigarette butts are littering cities, and cigarette butts are harming animals and small children. Humans build life off of what Mother Nature has given us naturally. Plants are being used for medicine, natural materials are being used to help houses take shape, and the list can go on. Sadly, with the tobacco industry present, deforestation to the worlds forests is happening and continues to happen as the clock ticks. The tobacco industry contributes to the removal of wood for two reasons: firewood to cure the tobacco crop, and so more land can be available to plant an excessive amount of crops. According to an article from Tobacco Control by Helmut J. Geist, it is estimated that around two hundred thousand hectares of forests and woodlands are being removed for the purposes of tobacco farming each year. To put this into perspective, a hectare is equivalent to

around two and half acres. So, around half a million acres per year are being destroyed for this industry. Tobacco, as a crop, needs to be cured. Wood is used to cure this crop and make the tobacco safer for human consumption. In the mid-nineteen eighties, it was suggested that Virginia tobacco consumes between eighty two and one hundred seventy five million cubic meters of roundwood harvested each year for curing, and this translates into the equivalent of one million two hundred thousand to two and a half million hectares of open forests or woodlands removed annually (Geist, 18-28). Yes, the nineteen eighties are long and gone, but the amount of trees removed since then, at the rate they were being removed has no inconceivable way to be replaced by the current day. According to the 1997 International Tobacco Growers Association developing countries will continue to use wood as a curing fuel because no cost-effective alternative has emerged. Even in the current day, 2013, these countries will still have to resort to the outdated way of using wood because money is still an issue. The trees that stand on this blue planet are vital to humans survival. With removing all these trees, the tobacco industry is depriving the human race of all the necessities they provide and riding animals of their homes. Trash cans exist. The purpose of these trash cans is to dispose of any trash so that it does not pollute the streets of every village and city. Sadly, cigarette butts are not all making it into these cans. The Cigarette Litter Prevention Program says that around twenty eight to thirty three percent of all litter nationwide. And contrary to popular belief, the butts of cigarettes are not biodegradable. Once they are thrown onto the ground, they sit there much like a plastic bottle. Speaking of plastic, ninety five percent of cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate. Cellulose acetate is a plastic that is

extremely slow to degrade. Most individuals do not realize that plastic is in these filters, but that is because cellulose acetate fibers are thinner than sewing thread. When these fibers are bound together, they appear to look like cotton (Register). With these filters on the ground, they create piles of trash that do not go away quickly. And if nothing is being done about these piles of trash, then it will keep piling up. Progress, though slow, is occurring. In 2009, the Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom, is seeking to charge a thirty three cents a pack tax. This tax is to cover the eleven million dollars that the city spends a year to clean up the litter caused by cigarettes (Kaufman). This progress is assuring to a better future because butts contain nicotine, which is considered a pesticide, which can be harmful to small animals and children. The waste from cigarette butts is not only visible, but can also be harmful when a small child or animal swallows the butt. Cigarettes contain around four thousand chemicals, and around fifty of those chemicals are carcinogenic. So obviously when these butts are swallowed, nothing good can come of it. The time of a life that is childhood can be dangerous, especially with the growing amount of cigarette butts being thrown on the ground throughout the environment. Children often explore their environment through oral contact and mimicking their parents behaviors (Novotny, Hardin, Hovda, Novotny, McLean, and Khan ). So when these children see their parents put the cigarette into their mouth and then throw it onto the ground, the child might try to put the cigarette butt into their mouth and potentially swallow it. According to the article Tobacco and cigarette butt consumption in humans and animals, a typical cigarette contains around nine to thirty milligrams, only around a half to two milligrams is consumed through inhaling though. The lethal does among indigestion for small children

is around forty to sixty milligrams, but it can start being toxic around one to two milligrams. With the toxicity comes symptoms such as causing nausea and vomiting in smaller doses. High does can create such harmful effects such as extensive neurological symptoms. The article also went on to say that there has been incidents of pets eating cigarette butts, but those are not nearly as common as children. In 1997, the Rhode Island Department of Health reported one hundred and forty six cases of cigarette indigestion among children six or under (Novotny, Hardin, Hovda, Novotny, McLean, and Khan ). Also, from 2006 through 2008, the America Association of Poison Control Centers reported around fourteen thousand injuries caused by tobacco products among children. Of those fourteen thousand seventy percent were six and under, and of those of six and under, ninety percent were due to the eating of cigarettes and cigarette butts. The health of children is important. These delicate individuals are our future and having the environment be polluted with cigarette butts could be detrimental. Smoking tobacco products can cause harmful effects on the users, people surrounding the users, and last but not least the environment. Protecting the environment from harmful industries such as the tobacco industry is important. Quickly the human race is seeing Mother Earths landscape be ripped off its beauty with the trees disappearing by the thousands. These trees provide much needed necessities for human life. Also, the left over and littered cigarette butts are not as degradable as is expected. They are made up of plastic, much like plastic bottles. So once the butt is littered on the ground, it does not become one with the soil. The butt stays there for a long time potentially causing harm to pets, wild animals, and small children. But with human

nature, comes these types of problems. Corporations and people alike are trying to better the situation and only time will tell if the change will stay.

Works Cited

Geist, Helmut. "Global assessment of deforestation related to tobacco farming." Tobacco Control. (1999): 18-28. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.

Kaufman, Leslie. "Cigarette butts: tiny trash that piles up."New York Times 29 May 2009, n. pag. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.

Novotny, Thomas, Sarah Hardin, Lynn Hovda, Dale Novotny, Mary Kay McLean, and Safdar Khan. "Tobacco and cigarette butt consumption in humans and animals." Tobacco Control. (2011): n. page. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.

Register, Kathleen. "Cigarette butts as liter-Toxic as well as ugly." Bulletin of the American Littoral Society. 25.2 (2000): n. page. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. <http://www.longwood.edu/cleanva/ciglitterarticle.htm>.