From Ecopedia

Overview

Originating in Central America around the 9th century , cigarettes are small, cylindrical devices composed of thin paper used to smoke finely-cut tobacco leaves.^[1] A cigarette typically has some kind of filter on one end, while it is ignited with a flame at the other end allowing the user to inhale smoke through the filter and hold it in their mouth. Although, cigarettes may also be unfiltered, most modern manufacturers such as Marlboro and Camel, sell their products with a filter in place.^[2]

Cigarettes have proven to be hazardous to ones health, where roughly 50% of cigarette smokers die of a tobacco-related disease, and/or may lose over 10 years of their life. While Nicotine in cigarettes is responsible for the addictive tendency, tobacco and the smoke emitted from the smoldering cigarette has been proven to cause lung cancer to the user and also to bystanders via secondhand smoke, which has led to a ban of smoking cigarettes in many public places internationally.^[3]

Affects on the Environment

Every standard cigarette contains a processed agricultural product called tobacco, which is derived from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. While many people realize the health affects of cigarettes, here are some of the environmental impacts caused by the life-cycle of cigarettes:

Deforestation

Tobacco is a plant, which, in some developing countries, is grown on farmland that is preliminary used to produce food. Deforestation is a direct environmental repercussion caused by tobacco cultivation and cigarette production, due to the farmland used to produce tobacco, and the usage of wood in the steps of curing tobacco including paper to wrap tobacco leaves, cardboard boxes to package cigarettes, and wooden-pallets or crates used to ship cigarettes from one location to another. ^[4]

Taking into account the use of resources required to grow, package, and shit tobacco, it's important to note this fact: A modern cigarette manufacturing machine may produce up to 14,000 cigarettes a minute. For every 300 cigarettes produced, one tree is consumed^[5]

Cigarette Smoke

Main Article: Tobacco smoke

The smoke that is emitted from cigarettes contains up to 4000 chemicals that are potentially harmful to the environment. This air pollution that is caused from this smoke is actually 10 times greater than the emission from a diesel-fuel powered car’s exhaust system.^[6] Though many of the chemicals that are emitted are particularly short-lived, the aldehydes can severely damage local environments, including respiratory tracts of humans and animals, and also plants as well. Cigarette smoke also contributes to photochemical smog and ozone formation.

Disposal

It is important to note that cigarette butts (the filter portion of a used cigarette), are not bio-degradable. In fact, some studies say that it may take up to 25 years for cigarette butts to decompose in landfills due to their primarily plastic composition. Additionally, the reasons why these filters exist on cigarettes is to prevent certain chemicals, such as lead and arsenic, from getting into the lungs of the end user. When these butts are littered or thrown out of a car window, these hazardous chemicals are present within the butt, and they may then make their way into rivers and oceans, which can directly affect marine life and water-quality. ^[7] Approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes are consumed on an annual basis. Even if only 1% of these cigarette butts are discarded improperly, that is 50 BILLION cigarette butts containing hazardous chemicals such as lead and arsenic that may make their way to oceans.

References

1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agriculture&action=edit
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agriculture&action=edit
3. ↑ http://earthfirst.com/cigarettes-arent-just-bad-for-your-lungs-they-hurt-the-environment-too/
4. ↑ http://www.keenforgreen.com/b/cigarettes-and-environment
5. ↑ http://earthfirst.com/cigarettes-arent-just-bad-for-your-lungs-they-hurt-the-environment-too/
6. ↑ http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6312-cigarettes-more-polluting-than-diesel-exhaust.html
7. ↑ http://www.nhpr.org/node/27558