The tobacco industry has impacts on deforestation, climate change and waste.
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The tobacco industry has impacts on deforestation, climate change and waste.
In 2012, the tobacco industry produced nearly 7.5 million metric tons of tobacco leaves on 4.3 million hectares of farmland in 124 countries.
The chemicals used in tobacco growing are so toxic to farmers and the environment that they are banned in many countries.
In some poor countries, farmers do not have the necessary equipment to protect themselves adequately, making them vulnerable to certain skin and respiratory diseases.
Biodiversity loss, soil erosion, decreased fertility and soil productivity, and disruption of the water cycle are all consequences of tobacco cultivation.
11.4 million metric tons of wood are required annually worldwide for tobacco growing.
In some countries, tobacco growing is the main cause of deforestation.
Deforestation created by tobacco growing also generates greenhouse gases.
In 1999, it was estimated that the manufacture of tobacco products worldwide produced about 2.26 trillion kilograms of solid waste and 209 million kilograms of chemical waste annually. * Note that cigarette production worldwide has since increased but there is no new data available.
For 2016, it was possible to estimate close to 8.76 million CO2 of total tobacco-related emissions in the world.
Tobacco farming results in the use of chemicals including pesticides, fertilizers and growth regulators. These chemicals can then affect the sources of drinking water.
The people who practice tobacco are mostly children, minorities and immigrants. The latter, thus cultivating tobacco, is exposed to the risk of nicotine poisoning caused by the handling of unprotected tobacco.
Butts are the fourth most deadly waste in the oceans, behind fishing equipment, bags, utensils and plastic balloons.
Comprised of nicotine, plastic and several heavy metals, cigarette butts take more than a decade to decompose. During this period, these tiny wastes do a lot of damage: its toxic components spread in the water and poison the oceans.
Chemicals used in tobacco growing degrade soils, forcing producers to continually clear new areas. The loss of forests destroys many ecosystems, and prevents people from growing food on lands damaged by tobacco.
Every year, 200,000 hectares of forest are cut off because of tobacco growing.
One tree is lost for every 300 cigarettes / 1.5 cartridge produced.
The drying of tobacco leaves releases polluting gases that contribute to global warming.
When tobacco is grown, large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides are used.
When a cigarette is lit in order to be consumed, it releases toxic substances into the air for the human but also for its environment.
When the fish is thrown away, its components are diluted in water and soil. It puts the natural resources of the planet in danger.
Three cigarettes burned one by one for 30 minutes pollute 10 times more than a modern diesel engine that runs idle for the same period of time.
Smoking pollutes the elements that help animals and humans to support themselves. It destroys living environments and has important consequences on food chains.
Worldwide cigarette consumption generates 680,000 tonnes of waste released into the wild each year.
The Coastal Conservancy organizes an international shoreline cleanup every year and every year, cigarette butts are the item they find most frequently in order of magnitude.
Since 1986, cigarette butts are number one on their list of the top 10 items.
In 2017, Ocean Conservancy volunteers collected more than two million corpses of cigarettes (2,412,151) from nearly 31,000 kilometers of coastline across the globe, including Canada.
According to data from the Ocean Conservancy, it appears that in 2016, they removed 1,030,640 cigarette butts from US beaches and streams. This represents approximately 24% of the total of all debris collected, the most recovered item.
Three out of four smokers report getting rid of their cigarette butts by throwing them out the window of a car.
Tobacco products contain over 7,000 chemicals including many carcinogens. Nicotine is what is responsible for creating addiction.
Candy, fruit or alcohol flavours are banned in tobacco products. Curiously, flavouring which gives a minty or sweet or menthol taste to its « dried herbs » like tobacco appeared on the market...
Every 10 minutes, two teenagers initiate themselves to tobacco, and one of those will end up dying from tobacco use.
A large percentage of smokers is in the age 18-24 range (29%), almost three in 10 people.
The average age of initiation to smoking is 13.3 years.
The electronic cigarette (Vape) market is increasingly dominated by cigarette manufacturers.
Teenagers who try electronic cigarettes are six times more likely to start smoking cigarettes.
If we do nothing, smoking will kill over eight million people around the world in 2030.
According to the WHO, “The smoking epidemic and the illnesses we are aware of today would not exist were it not for the marketing and promotion of the tobacco industry and its products over the past century.”
Tobacco industry products are the only consumer products that, if used as prescribed on the packaging, will kill half of their users.
The direct and indirect costs related to smoking are upwards of 4 billion dollars per year in Quebec alone.
The Canadian tobacco market is segmented between Tobacco Canada (49%), Rothmans, Benson and Hedges (37%) and JTI-MacDonald (13%). In 2015, those three companies made a combined 23.4 billion in profits.
The tobacco industry’s products claim over 7 million victims around the world each year.
According to the tobacco industry, 80% of the perception on the part of smokers is based primarily on the packaging or image.
Every day, tobacco kills fourteen smokers in Quebec.
If smoking was eliminated in Quebec, the equivalent of one third of hospital beds in the province would be freed.
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