EDITORIAL- Poisoning the planet

Earlier this month, scientists sounded the alarm on the presence of microplastics in the polluted air of the National Capital Region. The warning was based on tests conducted on air samples from 17 local government units in the NCR from Dec. 16 to 31, 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic.

Today, World No Tobacco Day, health experts are pointing out that the second highest form of plastic pollution worldwide comes from cigarette filters, which contain microplastics. Last year the World Health Organization reported that approximately 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute oceans, rivers, urban areas, beaches and soil annually. Tobacco products including vapes and e-cigarettes, which contain 7,000 types of toxic chemicals that leech into the environment when discarded, are the most littered item on the planet, according to the WHO.

In a report titled “Tobacco: Poisoning Our Planet,” the WHO said the carbon footprint of the tobacco industry – an estimated 84 million tons of carbon dioxide annually – is equivalent to one-fifth of the carbon footprint of commercial aviation and therefore worsens global warming. The WHO wants cigarette filters to be classified as single-use plastic to be covered by appropriate regulation.

The warning on tobacco’s carbon footprint is apart from the WHO’s long-standing warning about smoking-related deaths, placed at eight million annually. Much progress has been made in the campaign to ban smoking in enclosed public places.

These days the WHO is also moving to raise public awareness on the risks posed by EVALI – E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury. Vapes also contain nicotine and certain brands are laced with the active ingredient in marijuana. Health experts in the United States have warned about serious lung injuries from EVALI.

For this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the WHO is urging governments to provide incentives for crop switching from tobacco to sustainable food commodities amid a worsening global food crisis. “Grow food, not tobacco” is the theme this year. Despite warnings about green tobacco sickness – a type of nicotine poisoning that afflicts tobacco farmers – resistance to this campaign is expected in the Philippines, which is the world’s 15th largest producer of tobacco and the second biggest in the Western Pacific after China.

But even if the Philippines is currently led by a native of the country’s tobacco-producing region, the admonition from the WHO can be explored for appropriate even if gradual action, in the interest of public health, food security and environmental protection. There are so many other cash crops, and they don’t cause such harm to the health of humans and the planet like tobacco.