Every year the tobacco industry costs the world more than 8 million lives 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tons of water and 84 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
The alarming data were released by the World Health Organization (WHO) this Monday (30), the eve of the World No Tobacco Day , celebrated on May 31. In the alert, the WHO reveals the extent to which tobacco harms both the environment and human health and calls for measures to hold the industry accountable for the damage caused globally.
According to the WHO, most tobacco is grown in low- and middle-income countries, where water and agricultural land are needed for food production. However, the areas are being used to grow tobacco leaves.
The information is contained in the WHO report “Tobacco: Poisoning our planet”. The document highlights that the tobacco industry’s carbon footprint – from production, processing to transport, is equivalent to one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry each year, further contributing to global warming.
“Tobacco products are among the items that most pollute the planet, containing more than 7,000 toxic chemicals, which infiltrate our environment when discarded. About 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute our oceans, rivers, sidewalks, parks, soil and beaches every year,” said Ruediger Krech, WHO Director of Health Promotion, in a statement.
Products such as cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also contribute to the accumulation of plastic pollution. Cigarette filters contain microplastics and constitute the second largest form of plastic pollution worldwide, according to the WHO.
According to the WHO, there is no evidence that filters have benefits proven for health. Therefore, the entity urges public policymakers to consider banning cigarette filters to protect public health and the environment.
Costs to countries
The WHO argues that the cleanup costs of discarded tobacco products fall on taxpayers, not industry.
Each year, the problem reaches a cost of US$ 200 million (about R$ 940 million) for Brazil and Germany . For China, the expenditure amounts to around US$ 2.6 billion (approximately R$ 12 billion) and for India, the cost is around US$ 766 million (approximately R$ 3.6 billion ).
The WHO encourages governments and public managers to follow the examples of countries such as France and Spain and the city of San Francisco, in the United States, which have implemented measures with the aim of hold the tobacco industry accountable for cleaning up the pollution generated.
In addition, WHO highlights the need to support changes in tobacco production towards sustainable crops, the implementation of more significant tobacco taxes and the provision of support services to help people who decide to stop smoking.
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Source: CNN Brasil