Tobacco industry at the heart of environmental pollution

In an article published in the columns of the New York Times, the Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance recalls the damage caused by the tobacco industry on the environment, in particular in terms of plastic pollution. The Alliance mentions the need to consider the banning of filters for tobacco products, and the banning of flavors for new nicotine products.[1].

Tobacco industry instrumentalizes corporate responsibility in image strategy

The impact of the tobacco industry on the environment is an established fact. From cultivation, drying, transportation to consumption, tobacco contributes significantly to the depletion and pollution of soils and waterways, to overconsumption of water, to deforestation, and to climate change. Despite this, the tobacco industry is increasing its efforts in corporate social responsibility (CSR), aiming simultaneously to renormalize smoking and its industry. For these reasons, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which postulates the existence of a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and those of public health, obliges Parties to implement a total ban on tobacco advertising, including social responsibility strategies.

Making the tobacco industry bear the environmental cost

A growing number of jurisdictions now consider that the management of the environmental impact of the tobacco industry cannot be achieved through voluntary self-regulation policies on the part of manufacturers, but rather framed according to the binding principle of "polluter pays". As the Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance points out, one hundred million dollars are spent each year by the tobacco industry on CSR activities. Such a sum, which seems impressive at first glance, must nevertheless be put into perspective with the nine billion dollars invested each year by manufacturers in advertising.

Moreover, these hundred million dollars are far from covering the environmental damage caused by the sector's activity: according to a report Tobacco's Toxic Plastics: A Global Outlook, the financial cost of environmental pollution from the tobacco industry amounts to at least $2.1 billion. In France, while the public authorities have sought to integrate this polluter-pays imperative on the issue of tobacco through the establishment of an eco-organization, the latter's lack of independence from tobacco manufacturers has been particularly criticized by public health.

The filter, an invention of the tobacco industry harmful to public health and the environment

Part of the environmental pollution caused by the tobacco industry comes from the issue of cigarette butts, whose quantity and toxicity levels make them a particularly polluting, invasive and non-recyclable waste. However, these cigarette butts are mainly composed of a filter, which has been shown to be unjustified from a health perspective. In fact, the presence of filters leads the smoker to take deeper and longer puffs, and, by making the smoke less acrid, helps to facilitate the initiation of smoking.

The filter is also an innovation supported by the tobacco industry, aimed at three objectives. First, to reassure the consumer about the risks of their tobacco consumption, by making them believe in a reduction in risks, and thus dissuade them from starting to quit smoking. Second, to avoid direct contact between tobacco and the consumer's mouth, which the latter finds unpleasant. Finally, to reduce costs for manufacturers, by replacing part of the cigarette tobacco with plastic, which is cheaper to produce. The widespread use of the filter has resulted in a deterioration in the health situation, with the appearance of an increased risk of adenocarcinoma, a more aggressive type of lung cancer.

Flavors make it easier for teens to get started on nicotine

Finally, the Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance highlights the danger that the success of electronic cigarettes among young people poses to public health. In particular, the proliferation of flavors is pointed out as part of a strategy aimed at targeting younger generations and facilitating their introduction to new nicotine products as early as possible. Thus, while manufacturers claim that flavors are factors that encourage smoking cessation, the data currently available tend to demonstrate that they are more gateways for adolescents and pre-adolescents to nicotine consumption.

In the United States, 85% of middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes use flavors, mostly fruity and sweet. In France, 56% of adolescents aged 13 to 16 who have already used a disposable e-cigarette (puff), the original and fruity flavors represent the first argument that pushed them to use them. It is precisely because of their role in the nicotine initiation of the youngest that the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) has called on the public authorities to ban flavors, as more and more European countries have already done (Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands).

FT

[1] The New York Times, Uncovering the Truths Behind the Tobacco Industry's Deception, 02/21/2023, (accessed 02/22/2023)