Cigarette Smoking not only Kills butt also Litters
Sitting in the classroom thinking it’s a drag
Listening to the teacher rap just ain’t my bag
The noon bells ring you know that’s my cue
I’m gonna meet the boys on floor number two
Smokin’ in the boy's room
Smokin’ in the boy's room
“Smokin in the Boys Room” is a cult song from Brownsville Station released in 1973. The song is about college students smoking cigarettes in the boys’ restroom in the hope of not getting caught by the school.
Then there is an old Indian classic “ Main Zindagi ka saath nibhata Chala Gaya. Har fikr ko dhuyein mein udata Chala Gaya” song by Mohammed Rafi from the movie Hum Dono (1961). The meaning of the song is — I followed wherever my life took me. I blew every worry into a mist of smoke.
You would have understood the context, Smoking, and Cigarettes. Countless other smoking-themed songs would have given the global music industry, a high.
I want to recall those two songs for a couple of reasons.
- Ciggies are generally picked up by boys or students at a young age.
- The feeling of relaxation and enjoyment that comes after smoking.
These reasons have probably resonated with most people who smoke.
Having said that smokers will find innumerable other reasons as well. Whatever the reason, the global smoking industry is a Goliath, the market is worth approximately a trillion dollars in 2020.
Many articles are written on the consequences of smoking and health hazards like heart disease, bronchitis, pneumonia, stroke, lung or oral cancer, etc. As per WHO, tobacco and smoking kill more than 8 million people each year.
But I am going to draw your attention to another aspect of Cigarettes.
Smoking & Cigarette Butt also kills marine animals
If we speak about the construct of the commonly used (smoked) paper cigarettes, the top part is made with a thin sheet of white paper folded as a narrow tube containing tobacco, the bottom part (mostly orange colored) of the cigarette holds a filter — commonly called as a cigarette butt.
The filter takes about 30% of the cigarette length and is are made up of cellulose acetate, constituting petro-based fibers — nylon and polyester.
The purpose of keeping these filters or Cigarette butt was to reduce tar and nicotine going into the body. Whether it is effective or not, that is another discussion.
Puff, Puff, Puff, and it is not gone — While the top part of the cigarette is burned, the filter i.e Cigarette Butt remains — forever.
The easiest thing for any smoker after smoking their ciggies is to simply toss outside the window, flush it down the toilet, or simply drop it on the floor and stamp on it — like a Hero.
As per the estimates, roughly 6.5 trillion cigarettes are sold every year. This means about 18 billion cigarette butts are thrown every day.
Considering the small size of the cigarette butt, they are rarely picked up by the municipal authorities or taken for recycling.
Though in some countries, there is a special type of garbage bin that allows the disposal of a cigarette after its use. The top part of the bin allows smokers to extinguish the flame and drop the cigarette butt in the container.
The situation is not the same in developing countries, where the number of smokers is increasing but effective disposal of cigarette butt remains non-existent.
Hence more often than not, the abandoned cigarette butt usually end up in the landfills or the drainage system and are slowly transported by rivers to the ocean.
The toxic chemicals from the cigarette butt slowly leak into the land & water, creating havoc on the environment.
As mentioned the filters are made with a type of plastic that can take years to decompose, even as they do, they break down into microplastics, polluting the water bodies. Thousands of marine animals are exposed to these highly toxic fragments risking their survival.
When the Cigarette manufacturers write the statutory warning, wish they change to “Cigarette Smoking is Injurious to Your’s and Fish Health”.
By avoiding that smoke, you will not only help your lungs but will also give relief to the planet.
Originally published at https://changestarted.com on March 10, 2021.
