Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
19 November 2010
Poisonous Cigarette Butt Filters
Few people argue that cigarette smoking is a harmless activity anymore, however the thrown away butts are now creating a growing problem
The Lung Association says that “Tobacco smoke also contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which are known causes of cancer. Just a few of these chemicals are:
- “Carbon Monoxide (found in car exhaust);
- “Arsenic (rat poison);
- “Ammonia (found in window cleaner);
- “Acetone (found in nail polish remover);
- “Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison);
- “Naphthalene (found in mothballs); and,
- “Sulphur Compounds (found in matches).”
The list goes on to include lead, formaldehyde, and butane.
Cigarette Poisons Kill Millions of People
In the 1990 documentary The Medical Aspects of Tobacco, Dr. Max Schneider points out that: “Cigarettes are the only substance sold, that when the user follows the instructions carefully, will result in the consumer becoming toxic, chronically ill, and dead.”
During the 20th century, cigarette smoking killed more than 100 million people worldwide and the World Health Organization (WHO) says the death toll will be 10 million a year by 2025. The WHO adds that between 80,000 and 100,000 kids are taking up the habit every day.
Cigarette Butt Litter Continues to Pollute
According to The Chicago Tribune (June 2008), 4.5 trillion cigarette butts end up
as trash every year worldwide. The newspaper’s article, lists many other interesting
facts about the cigarette filters made from cellulose acetate:
- It takes between 10 and 15 years for a fibre cigarette filter to break down;
- 200 cigarette filters, taken as a whole, contain enough nicotine to kill an adult; and,
- Cigarette butts represent 30 percent of the waste found on American shorelines and waterways.
What happens after a cigarette butt is flicked onto the street, nature trail, or beach? CigaretteLitter.org has the answer: “Typically wind and rain carry the cigarette into the water supply, where the toxic chemicals the cigarette filter was designed to trap leak out into aquatic ecosystems, threatening the quality of the water and many aquatic lifeforms. Cigarette butts may seem small, but with several trillion butts littered every year, the toxic chemicals add up!”
Governments Fighting
against Cigarette Butt Pollution
The New York Times (May 2009) reports that, “dozens of municipalities across the nation have had enough. Weary of the butts’ unsightliness and the costs of sweeping them up, cities have passed bans on smoking on beaches and playgrounds.”
The Times article says that, “In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom said last week
that he would go a step further, seeking a 33-
The newspaper goes on to point out that such toxins as nicotine, benzene, and cadmium leach out of discarded filters long after they have been thrown away.
Meanwhile, the people at ButtsOut.net are offering a solution – the personal, portable ash tray. It’s a small box that can be clipped onto “belt, bag, ski suit, or clothing.” Drop in the finished smoke, close the lid, and the butt is taken out of the waste stream to safe disposal.
Image credits
Cigarette Litter
Ben Schumin
Sources
“Kicking Butts.” Louis R. Carlozo, Chicago Tribune, June 18, 2008.
“Cigarette Butts: Tiny Trash that Piles up.” Leslie Kaufman, New York Times, May 28, 2009.
“Recycled Cigarette Butts can Keep Steel from Rusting.” Stephanie Steinberg, USA Today, July 7, 2010
© Canada and the World, October 2010
All rights reserved
Jun Zhao, is a Ph.D. student in the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Xi'an
Jiaotong University in China.
According to USA Today (July 2010) Zhao “and a team of scientists found that cigarette butts can be put to good use. Their study...shows that extracts of cigarette butts that have been submerged in water can help prevent steel from rusting.”
There are 1.2 billion smokers in the world
They smoke an average of 15 billion cigarettes a day
The annual weight of cigarette butt litter is estimated to weigh 771 million kilos
“Imagine a month without rain followed by a brief thunderstorm that washes 500,000
nicotine [butts] -