Presidents war against polythene and

tobacco

Monday, 28 December 2015

President Maithripala Sirisena has declared war against two products. In
speeches in Parliament as well as outside, he has proclaimed that both
these products would be banned beginning from 2016. One of the products
to be banned is polythene. The other is tobacco. Both are goods from a
personal consumption point, because people are willing to spend money to
have them. However, they have been accused of delivering bad effects to
society over many years when viewed from a social point. The cry for
banning them has come from those who hold this latter view.
Many uses and abuses of polythene
Polythene is widely used by modern societies there is no one who does

not use it in many different ways. It has saved trees by replacing paper
bags. It is being used as a low cost conveyor of water in surface canals in
deserts. The medical profession uses it to keep bacteria away from living
bodies. The packaging industry loves polythene because of its light weight,
water-proof quality, ease of handling and strength. These are a few uses of
polythene but there are many more. However, it is accused of harming the
environment by clogging drains, providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes
and killing the aesthetic sentiments of people when littered. Hence, there is
wide-spread animosity against polythene from many ranging from school
children to grown-ups, though all of them have been using it liberally.
Sin tax on tobacco brings in handsome revenue to the
government
Tobacco, on the other hand, is an addiction like addictions to
alcohol or drugs. It is not necessary for human living. But
addiction to tobacco by citizens is a blessing for governments
which fill their coffers by handsomely taxing those who consume
it. For instance, in 2015, Sri Lankas Treasury had planned to
raise about Rs 68 billion by taxing tobacco consumers a kind
of a sin tax to punish those who commit the sinful act up from
Rs 57 billion raised in 2014. This is nearly a half of the
expenditure on health services by the government. Tobacco tax,
along with the other sin tax on alcohol, has financed nearly the
total expenditure on health services by the government of Sri
Lanka. Tobacco provides a handsome revenue source to governments
throughout the globe. But all societies have taken up arms against the
tobacco industry. Their charge is that it has brought in nation-wide health
hazards from cancer to bronchitis. Hence, President Sirisenas war cry
against both polythene and
tobacco it can be safely
predicted that pretty soon it will
be extended to alcohol as well
is simply an instance of echoing
the societys popular animosity
against them.
The culprit is bad
management of polythene
and failure to recycle
This writer has argued in a
previous article in this series
that it is not polythene which is

the culprit. It is the bad management of polythene coupled with failure of

societies to recycle it that has brought about the woes about which
societies are complaining (available at:
http://www.ft.lk/article/33719/Banning-polythene-to-green-the-globe-Alternatives-are-not-that-green-either ). The summary of the article is as
follows.

Every good produces a bad in the form of waste matter

Every economic activity produces a good in the form of a usable product
or service and a bad in the form of waste-matter. While the good is used,
the bad is dumped into the environment. But that does not lead to
environmental pollution because all these bads are absorbed, assimilated
and recycled by agents employed by nature. Thus, waste-matter is
converted by these agents to a beneficial-matter for reuse by all. A good
example is the carbon dioxide that we exhale. Plants, an agent of
nature,absorb carbon dioxide in producing nutrition for them and make it
available to us in the form of oxygen for us to inhale. Hence, every good
has a bad and every bad is recycled by nature. Environmental pollution
occurs when bads are dumped to environment overstretching natures
assimilative capacity. This is where human action is needed and the
menace of polythene is one such area where human action is warranted.
But that does not call for banning of polythene. Rather it calls for better
management of the use of polythene and recycling of same which nature
has been unable to do. Industry should be encouraged to recycle polythene
by offering tax credits, an incentive payment for doing so. There should be
a recycling audit in order to ensure that the industry does its job well.
Hence, banning of polythene as pronounced by the President, is not the
solution to the problem. It simply denies society of the services of a faithful
servant.

Recycling is even merited in Buddhist literature

Recycling of waste-matter is not a new phenomenon and its value has been
known for many thousands of years. There is a story relating to recycling
concerning Elder Ananda, Chief Aide of the Buddha, as narrated in
Dhammapadatthakatha, a commentary written for elucidating
Dhammapada, an anthology of stanzas pronouncing the Buddhas
doctrines. In this story, Queen Samawati, Chief Queen of King Udeni of
Kausamba, had donated 500 clothes to Elder Ananda in appreciation of a
discourse he had preached to her and her assistants. Puzzled by Elder

Anandas acceptance of so many clothes, King Udeni questioned him on

whether it was in order for him to do so in view of the frugal life which all
disciples of the Buddha had been living. Replied Elder Ananda: I use one
and give the rest to other monks whose robes have now worn out. It led to
a series of questions by the King and answers by Elder Ananda. What will
they do to their existing robes? They will give them to those monks whose
robes are still in a worse state What will they do with their decayed
robes? They will make them bed sheets What will they do to their old
bed sheets? They will make carpets of them What will they do with the
old carpets? They will make door-mats What will they do to their old
door-mats? They will cut them into small pieces, mix them with soil and
use the mixture to plaster the walls The moral of this story is that there is
nothing that can be wasted; they can be reused again and again in a
different form until such time their further usage does not matter anymore.

Prof Visvanathan of AIT: Polythene can be converted to clothing

yarns
Polythene and plastics can be recycled in a number of ways. One is to
covert them to polyester and rayon to manufacture textiles. Dean of the
School of Environment, Resources and Development of the Thailand based
Asian Institute of Technology Professor C Visvanathan, revealed to this
writer in an interview with him that there is efficient technology now
available for converting polythene into rayon (available at:
http://www.ft.lk/article/408071/-Solid-waste-no-more-waste-but-like-gold-says-Sri-Lankan-born-scientist-C--Visvanathan ). This comes in the holistic
waste management system developed by AIT which is now being practised
in a number of countries. AIT is willing to transfer technology to Sri Lanka if
the country is interested in introducing holistic waste management.

Local bodies can develop systems of collecting used polythene

In recycling polythene and plastics, Sri Lanka could develop a system of
collecting them through municipalities and other local bodies. The incentive
for them to do the collection job is the additional income which the local
body would get out of such new activities. According to Visvanathan, Sri
Lanka may not have a sufficient volume of plastics and polythene to
operate a factory with the necessary scale. However, both India and China
are hungry for plastic granules that are being used for producing polyester
yarn and, in the initial period, the country could join the Asian supply chain
to keep these two countries supplied with raw materials.

Examples of converting polythene and plastics into usable

materials
Many factories have sprung up in the developed world to convert plastics
into polyester as shown in the following video on YouTube (watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyF9MxlcItw ). The method of recycling
old plastic bags into new plastic bags is explained in the following video
(watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2IQWV8Q5JU ). The general
recycling of plastics, as practised in USA on a wide-spread basis, is
presented in the following video (watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=s5p6Nk3SzcU ).Converting used plastics into polyester is only one
application of recycling of the material. There are many, like converting it to
oil as shown in the following video relating to South Korea (watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyHEZhTg01M ). Hence, the solution to
the so called plastics and polythene menace is not the banning of the
material but introducing means of its proper management including
recycling. The polythene manufacturers should be given incentives to
introduce appropriate collection and recycling methods. That should be the
national policy of Sri Lanka.

The isolation of cigarette manufacturing industry for attack

Now, lets turn to tobacco. Tobacco is used in Sri Lanka largely for
manufacturing cigarettes and chewing with betel leaves, a traditional
practice of many Sri Lankans from all walks of life. The use of tobacco in
betel chewing is so common and popular in Sri Lanka that an alms-giving
ceremony or chanting of Pirith, both attended by Buddhist monks, is not
complete unless the attending monks are offered a serving of tobaccocontaining betel along with meals. The addition of tobacco to betel chewing
to give it an extra stimulating power would have been a practice adopted
by Sri Lankans in the last 200 years. But, now it has come to stay as a
major ingredient in betel chewing creating a demand for tobacco and
providing an income source for farmers. The health hazards of tobacco
consumption come from both cigarette smoking and betel chewing. Yet,
societys demand for restricting the consumption, marketing and trading of
tobacco has been directed only toward cigarettes manufactured by
multinational companies and not for betel chewing. That demand is not
directed even to cigars and cigarettes made in cottage industries in the
country and they operate free of barriers. As such, betel-chewing can be
done in public places, sold to youngsters and marketed without the warning
that it would cause cancer. Ironically, it appears that society is interested in

protecting itself from consuming tobacco in the form of cigarettes and not
otherwise. The advisors to President too appear to have been guided by this
narrow conception.

Many biotechnological breakthroughs in the recent past

But recent advancements in biotechnology have changed the publics
perceptions about tobacco completely though they have so far not reached
Sri Lankan policy makers. Biotechnology is a scientific field which harnesses
cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products
that help improve the lives and the health of all living beings. The
breakthrough biotechnological discoveries have led to new medicines,
treatment methods, food items and efficient and cleaner energy devices, to
mention but a few. Biotech companies in advanced countries have become
leading generators of new technologies for the benefit of those living on
this planet. Having recognised the value of biotechnology as a leading
sector in the global economy in the years to come, Singaporean authorities
advised all their universities and higher learning institutions to concentrate
and develop biotechnology, among others, in the new millennium. Today,
that city state is a powerhouse in biotechnology and genetic research.
Biotechnology has converted tobacco plant into a miracle plant
The Tobacco plant has become the latest attraction to biotechnologists.
Biotechnological processes applied to tobacco plant have generated at least
four new scientific breakthroughs. If one evaluates tobacco in terms of
these breakthroughs, one may hesitate to brand it as an evil plant as is
being done by modern societies.

Use of tobacco leaves for producing biodiesel and ethanol

One biotechnological breakthrough has been the generation of biodiesel by
using young tobacco leaves. A US plant science company called Tyton
Biosciences has genetically modified tobacco to yield a higher output of
ethanol and biodiesel than corns and soy beans which are at present used
for the same purpose (available at:
http://www.thecropsite.com/news/16050/producing-ethanol-and-biodieselfrom-tobacco/ ). According to this company, one acre of tobacco can replace
8 to 12 acres of corn or soy that are currently being used for producing the
input for these two products. What it means is that corn and soy could be
used more for human and animal consumption than for producing ethanol

and biodiesel. The tobacco-ethanol-biodiesel production also generates

three by-products, namely, glycerine, F1 proteins for animal feeds and
fertiliser rich with nitrogen. An Italian biotech company called Sunchem has
reengineered the tobacco plant to produce jet fuels for Boeing which uses
this new fuel along with the South African Airways (available at:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a8483/why-not-make-biofuelsfrom-tobacco/ ).

Tender tobacco plants functioning as vaccine producing factories

The second biotechnological breakthrough relating to tobacco is the use of
the tobacco plant itself as a factory producing vaccines for two diseases
that have so far escaped the curative systems of the modern medical
industry. One is the Ebola virus and the other is a blood cancer known as
follicular lymphoma. In both methods, the virus is inserted to the tender
tobacco plant and its DNA, stronger than the alien virus, fights with the
virus and produces antibodies that can cure both diseases.

Ebola vaccine from tobacco

Ebola has been a serious epidemic that has paralysed many countries in
West Africa. Without a proper cure, many thousands of West Africans have
fallen victim to Ebola. The new breakthrough using tobacco plant has been
developed by KBP in a facility in Kentucky in USA by injecting the antibody
ZMapp to just 21 day old tobacco plants. (available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCW6qeJt-JA ).The advantage of plant
based vaccines is that they can be directly applied to patients without
having to use intermediate animals to produce the antibodies. This can be
replicated in any country that can be cultivated tobacco and countries
affected by Ebola can therefore produce anti-Ebola vaccines on their own
soils.

Cancer causing tobacco to help cure cancer

Follicular lymphoma is a slow growing blood cancer without serious advance
symptoms affecting both men and women generally in middle age. If it is
diagnosed at early stages, radiation therapy can be used but at advanced
stages, patients require chemotherapy. However, as is the case with many
cancers, the success rate has been very low. In the new breakthrough, the
vaccine is grown in the genetically engineered tobacco plant instead of

growing it in animals (available at:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/07/22/tobacco-plantscan-grow-a-vaccine-to-fight-lymphoma/#.Vn4uabZ96t8 ). This process is
quicker, less expensive and less risky to patients compared with the use of
animal cells for producing vaccines. As in the case of Ebola vaccine, the
tobacco plant itself is functioning as a factory that produces the vaccines
which can directly be applied to the patient to build his or her own
immunity system to fight the blood cancer.

A tobacco free of tar and nicotine can help smokers to quit

smoking
The fourth breakthrough concerns the complete reengineering of the
tobacco plant to produce tobacco free from tar and nicotine, the two
chemical ingredients that bring health hazards to tobacco users. The war
against tobacco is mainly fought on the ground that it causes cancer and
many other tar-nicotine related ailments. If a cigarette can be produced free
from tar and nicotine, that cigarette should be welcomed by governments,
civil society organisations and the general public. Biotechnology has helped
scientists to produce such a tobacco plant that could be used for producing
a cigarette that has no health hazards (available at:
http://rense.com/general12/nico.htm ).

The need for a positive

approach
What is revealed by the
scientific breakthroughs that
are happening in the rest of
the world is that Sri Lanka is
set to overreact to a
perceived menace in which
society has labelled both
polythene and tobacco as
culprits. Both these products
are not sin products as
perceived by the public. With proper management and recycling in the case
of polythene and biotechnological research and application in the case of
tobacco, both these products can be converted to items that serve mankind
better. It is, therefore, a case of the advisors to the President taking note of
what is happening in the rest of the world and giving him sound advice that

calls his government to adopt a positive approach for better results.

(W.A Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank
of Sri Lanka, can be reached at waw1949@gmail.com )

Posted by Thavam