Cigarette Problem

What is the cigarette problem?

Cigarette stubs contribute significantly to trash and leak harmful substances into the environment.Cigarette butts are the most abundant single sort of trash, and their filters are not biodegrade.

Furthermore, tobacco product packaging generates 2 million tons of garbage each year. Tobacco has far-reaching environmental and health consequences, which are especially devastating to low- and middle-income nations.

History of cigarettes.

Beggars in Sevilla (Seville) started collecting abandoned cigar butts, shredding them, and rolling them in scraps of paper (Spanish papeletes) for smoking in the early 16th century, thereby inventing the first cigarettes. Cigarrillos (Spanish for "small cigars") were the poor man's smokes.

Cigarettes have been popular since the Napoleonic wars and since then were heavily used by the general public. The massive popularity of cigarettes helped it spread from Spain to France, Portugal and Italy.

The rapid growth of globalization also spread cigarettes to various other parts of the world.

What are the harmful substances in a cigarette and their effects?

Some of the harmful substances found in cigarettes are nicotine, carbon monoxide benzene, arsenic and formaldehyde, dithane DF, imidacloprid 1, 3-dichloropropene, chlorpyrifos, and methyl bromide.

In 1995, it was estimated that the manufacture of cigarettes generates almost 2,300,000,000 kilograms of pollutants each year, including an additional 20,900 kg of chemical contaminants. Second-hand smoke includes carbon dioxide, methane, and other noxious substances that contribute to smoking-related air pollution.

While carbon dioxide and methane do not kill smokers, they do contribute to overall air pollution. Smoking has done nothing but damage all throughout the planet.

Cigarettes have a negative impact on the environment because they produce cigarette buds, which are famously destructive to the environment.

They have also affected the ecology and produced hazardous waste in the urban areas where it's more prone to domestic animals consuming such waste.

What were the sales for cigarettes:

Cigarette sales fell 7.6% between January 2020 and December 2021, from 9.8 billion to 9.1 billion packs, continuing a 20-year yearly fall.

While each pack includes 20 cigarettes, each pack has 20 cigarette buds. A total of 192 billion cigarette buds were wasted that year.

What are some of the solutions that can reduce the impact of cigarettes and help eradicate this problem?

• Strongly discourage the use of cigarettes to all your family members and known relatives. Assist them in quitting, and support their process.

• At all costs, avoid the purchase of cigarettes.

• Reach out for help and assistance, choose to quit smoking, and dispose of all current cigarette packs in your possession.

• For further assistance, refer to a family GP and if required reach out to a specialist.

• Join a community of previously addicted smokers who help and support your journey in quitting and leaving cigarettes.

Works Cited

CDC. “Environmental Impacts of the Tobacco Lifecycle | CDC.” Www.cdc.gov, 1 June 2022, www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/infographics/tobacco/tobacco-lifecycle.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “CDC - Fact Sheet - Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking - Smoking & Tobacco Use.” Smoking and Tobacco Use, 10 Dec. 2020, www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm.

Rinkesh. “10 Serious Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Environment and Human Health - Conserve Energy Future.” Conserve Energy Future, 8 Dec. 2017, www.conserve-energy-future.com/serious-effects-cigarette-smoking-environment-and-human-health.php.

WHO. “WHO Raises Alarm on Tobacco Industry Environmental Impact.” Www.who.int, 31 May 2022, www.who.int/news/item/31-05-2022-who-raises-alarm-on-tobacco-industry-environmental-impact#:~:text=Roughly%204.5%20trillion%20cigarette%20filters. Accessed 26 Dec. 2022.