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HomeMy Public PortalAbout080315agendapacketTob Control 2011;20:i1 doi:10.1136/tc.2011.043729 Commentary: Butt really? The environmental impact of cigarettes Cheryl G Healton1, K Michael Cummings2, Richard J O'Connor2, Thomas E Novotny3 + Author Affiliations 1American Legacy Foundation, Washington, DC, USA 2Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, USA 3Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA Correspondence to 
Dr Cheryl G Healton, CEO, Legacy, American Legacy Foundation, 1724 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20036 USA; chealton@americanlegacy.org Are cigarette butts more than just an unsightly litter problem? Do the chemicals leached out of them just ‘go away’—biodegraded and diluted by our streams, rivers and oceans so that we can forget about them? This special supplement of Tobacco Control brings together the currently known science about cigarette butt waste and sets the stage for a new research agenda that can unite the tobacco control community with environmental activists who have long been appalled by the single most commonly collected waste item found each year on beach clean- ups. In addition, butts are also reported to comprise an estimated 25–50 percent of all collected litter items from roads and streets—making them a concern for the quality of urban life. Cigarette butts contain all the carcinogenic chemicals, pesticides, and nicotine that make tobacco use the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, yet they are commonly, unconsciously and inexcusably dumped by the trillions (5.6 trillions and counting) into the global environment each year. In this issue, Moerman and Potts demonstrate the presence of heavy metals in cigarette butt leachates—the toxic soup produced when butts are soaked in water; Slaughter shows that only one cigarette butt will kill half the fish exposed to leachates in a controlled laboratory setting; Harris describes the history of how tobacco companies used filters as a marketing tool in an effort to allay fears about the harm caused by cigarettes, even after the companies knew that filters did not reduce risk. Smith and Novotny reveal the tobacco industry's long-standing concern about the cigarette butt problem and how it has responded by shifting responsibility for the job of cleanup back to its victims. Schneider et al analyse tobacco product litter as an economic issue, with costs of cleanup borne by communities instead of the tobacco manufacturers. Barnes describes some important regulatory and environmental principles that should underlie efforts to mitigate cigarette butt waste, including the Precautionary Principle— which states that environmental harm does not have to be proved to justify preventing potential exposures—and Extended Producer Responsibility—which asserts that those who produce a toxic waste product should be held accountable for its cleanup. To grapple with toxic cigarette butt waste, we can look for lessons in other interventions against environmental pollution: • ‘Bottle bills’, in which states apply a deposit-return scheme, have greatly reduced waste from disposable bottles, cans and plastic containers; the electronics industry collects a fee on computers and other equipment to be used for recycling these devices instead of simply throwing them into landfills. Waste fees or a deposit-return scheme could be applied to cigarettes to recoup the costs of cleanup in individual communities. • Plastic bags have been banned in a number of communities, and plastic tampon inserters have been considered for regulation by several states as environmental hazards and beach blight. The plastic (cellulose acetate) cigarette filter could also be banned to reduce a huge source of unsightly, non-biodegradable plastic waste. • Mandatory take-back policies, such as in those in the European Union for electronics or as proposed in San Francisco for pharmaceuticals that have expired, may be implemented to reduce cigarette butt waste, invoking the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility. • Prohibitions on smoking in enclosed spaces have reduced indoor air pollution and related health risks for millions. Certainly, prohibitions on smoking in outdoor public places, including parks, beaches and even outdoor urban areas will prevent some butt waste flowing into our aquatic environments. College campuses, as suggested by Sawdey et al with the current wave of green consciousness, should be the vanguards of this effort—they should all be smoke free, healthy environments, with no butts about them. We need to determine which chemicals in combusted cigarette waste kill aquatic organisms and whether these chemicals can be detected, much like discarded antibiotics and other chemicals are detected, in our water systems. Researchers should also examine the social and economic impacts of cigarette waste, including costs to localities for butt clean-up and degradation of urban environments. While more research would certainly be helpful to define the scope of the problem, science- based interventions should now address what is clearly an unnecessary and preventable environmental plague in our communities. If filters on cigarettes don't make smoking less hazardous why should they be used at all? Filters don't make smoking any safer although most smokers today would seem to still think otherwise. Butt really, what is needed now is for tobacco control and environmental activists to work together to hold the global cigarette industry accountable for the toxic mess they've caused. It is their products, when used as directed and then discarded as part of the smoking ritual, that pollute our environment, not just our hearts and lungs. Cigarette butt waste is the last socially acceptable form of littering in what has become an increasingly health and environmentally conscious world. We challenge our friends and colleagues in tobacco control and environmental change movements to join forces and find solutions for eliminating this especially toxic form of trash. News L.A. Cicero Stanford Report, May 2, 2007 Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke in outdoor settings a risk, study shows BY MARK SHWARTZ Wayne Ott and Neil Klepeis were members of a team of Stanford researchers who conducted the first in-depth study on how smoking affects air quality at sidewalk cafés, park benches and other outdoor locations. Tens of thousands of Americans die each year from secondhand tobacco smoke, according to a 2006 report by the U.S. Surgeon General. While the health risks associated with indoor secondhand smoke are well documented, little research has been done on exposure to toxic tobacco fumes outdoors. Now, Stanford University researchers have conducted the first in-depth study on how smoking affects air quality at sidewalk cafés, park benches and other outdoor locations. Writing in the May issue of the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association (JAWMA), the Stanford team concluded that a non-smoker sitting a few feet downwind from a smoldering cigarette is likely to be exposed to substantial levels of contaminated air for brief periods of time. "Some folks have expressed the opinion that exposure to outdoor tobacco smoke is insignificant, because it dissipates quickly into the air," said Neil Klepeis, assistant professor (consulting) of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford and lead author of the study. "But our findings show that a person sitting or standing next to a smoker outdoors can breathe in wisps of smoke that are many times more concentrated than normal background air pollution levels." Klepeis pointed to the 2006 Surgeon General's report, which found that even brief exposures to secondhand smoke may have adverse effects on the heart and respiratory systems and increase the severity of asthma attacks, especially in children. "We were surprised to discover that being within a few feet of a smoker outdoors may expose you to air pollution levels that are comparable, on average, to indoor levels that we measured in previous studies of homes and taverns," said Wayne Ott, professor (consulting) of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford and co-author of the JAWMA study. "For example, if you're at a sidewalk café, and you sit within 18 inches of a person who smokes two cigarettes over the course of an hour, your exposure to secondhand smoke could be the same as if you sat one hour inside a tavern with smokers. Based on our findings, a child in close proximity to adult smokers at a backyard party also could receive substantial exposure to secondhand smoke." Unlike indoor tobacco smoke, which can persist for hours, the researchers found that outdoor smoke disappears rapidly when a cigarette is extinguished. "Our data also show that if you move about six feet away from an outdoor smoker, your exposure levels are much lower," Klepeis added. The public has become increasingly concerned about the effects of outdoor smoking, Ott noted. More than 700 state and local governments have passed laws restricting outdoor smoking at playgrounds, building entrances and other public areas, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation. building entrances and other public areas, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation. Some of the strictest ordinances are in California. The city of Santa Monica, for example, recently banned smoking at parks, beaches, automatic teller machines, theater lines, open-air restaurants and other outdoor locations. "Throughout the country, cities and counties are looking at various laws against outdoor smoking, and some of the proposals are pretty drastic," Ott said. "The problem is that until now, there have been virtually no scientific data to justify such restrictions. In fact, our paper is the first study on outdoor smoking to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal." Particulate matter In the study, the researchers used portable electronic monitors to make precise measurements of toxic airborne particles emitted from cigarettes at 10 sites near the Stanford campus. "We wanted to quantify the potential level of exposure to outdoor tobacco smoke that could occur in everyday settings," Klepeis said. "To do this, we used five different, state-of-the-art instruments to measure secondhand smoke at parks, open-air cafés, sidewalks and outdoor pubs where smokers were present." Each instrument was calibrated to measure an airborne pollutant known as particulate matter-2.5 (PM2.5), which consists of thousands of microscopic particles that are less than 2.5 micrometers in width—about 30 times narrower than a human hair. "PM2.5 is a toxic pollutant produced by cigarettes, wood-burning stoves, diesel engines and other forms of combustion," Ott explained. "It contains benzo(a)pyrene, a carcinogen, and many other toxic chemicals that can penetrate deep inside the lungs." According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to PM2.5 can lead to serious health problems, including asthma attacks, chronic bronchitis, irregular heartbeat, nonfatal heart attacks and even premature death in people with heart or lung disease. The current EPA ambient air standard for PM2.5 is 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air averaged over 24 hours. Levels that exceed 35 micrograms are considered unhealthy. "However, since tobacco smoke contains many toxic components, including carcinogens, it may be even less healthy than typical ambient air pollution," Klepeis noted. Test results To measure PM2.5 levels in secondhand smoke, the researchers placed the instruments near actual smokers in different open-air environments. "We also performed controlled experiments with burning cigarettes, which allowed us to make precise measurements of PM2.5 levels at different distances," Klepeis said. The results were clear: The closer you are to an outdoor smoker, the higher your risk of exposure. The results were clear: The closer you are to an outdoor smoker, the higher your risk of exposure. "A typical cigarette lasts about 10 minutes," Klepeis said. "We found that if you're within two feet downwind of a smoker, you may be exposed to pollutant concentrations that exceed 500 micrograms of PM2.5 over that 10-minute period. If you're exposed multiple times to multiple cigarettes over several hours in an outdoor pub, it would be possible to get a daily average of 35 micrograms or more, which exceeds the current EPA outdoor standard." Outdoor tobacco smoke consists of brief plumes that sometimes exceed 1,000 micrograms, Klepeis added. "On the other hand, clean air typically contains less than 20 micrograms of PM2.5," he said. "Therefore, a person near an outdoor smoker might inhale a breath with 50 times more toxic material than in the surrounding unpolluted air." However, the researchers found that air quality improved as they moved away from the smoker. "These results show what common sense would suggest—when you're within a few feet downwind of a smoker, you get exposed," Ott explained. "But likewise, when you go a little distance or stay upwind, the exposure goes way down. If there's just one smoker, and you can sit six feet away, you would have little problem. At the same time, if there are a lot of smokers nearby, you may be exposed to very high levels of secondhand smoke. So this thing that critics have been dismissing as trivial is not." Added Klepeis: "If people realize that being near outdoor smokers can result in potentially large exposures to toxic air pollution, they may decide they do not wish to be exposed in a variety of outdoor settings. This realization may lead to an increased number of smoking bans in public locations." The study also was co-authored by Paul Switzer, professor of statistics and of geological and environmental sciences at Stanford. The research was supported by grants from the State of California and the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute in Miami. 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