Tobacco and the Environment

2. Module 9 Tobacco and the Environment

3. Tobacco and the Environment Why is smoking bad for the environment? Cigarettes are the most littered item in America. Tobacco 101: Module 9 Cigarette butts are the most prevalent littered item found during the Center for Marine Conservation’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Project, accounting for 21 percent of the debris collected in 2010.

4. Tobacco and the Environment Why is smoking bad for the environment? Cigarettes are the most littered item in America. Tobacco 101: Module 9 • Cigarette butt litter can • Leach harmful chemicals into the ground and water; • Last 18 months or even years; and • Be swallowed by wildlife or small children.

5. Tobacco and the Environment Why is smoking bad for the environment? Cigarette butts thrown from moving cars can cause deadly fires. Tobacco 101: Module 9 Irresponsibly discarded cigarette butts can cause fires. In April 2011, six horses traveling from Florida to New York were killed when the trailer they were being transported in caught fire.

6. Tobacco and the Environment Why is smoking bad for the environment? Smoking materials are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States. Tobacco 101: Module 9 Smoking materials (e.g., cigarettes, cigars, pipes) are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States. In 2008, there were an estimated 114,800 smoking-material fires in the United States. These fires caused 680 civilian deaths, about 1,500 civilian injuries and $737 million in direct property damage.

7. Tobacco and the Environment References • Slide 3: Ocean Conservancy. 2010. Trash Travels. Washington, DC: Ocean Conservancy. http://www.oceanconservancy.org/news-room/collateral/2010_icc_report.pdf • Slide 4: • Novotny, T. E., and F. Z. Tob. 1999. “Consumption and Production Waste: Another Externality of Tobacco Use.” Tobacco Control 8:75–80. • Clean Virginia Waterways, Longwood University. “Cigarette Butt Litter,” accessed January 10, 2012, http://www.longwood.edu/CLEANVA/cigarettelitterhome.html • Slide 5: Last Angry Fan. 2011. “Six Racehorses Die in Trailer Fire Sparked by Discarded Cigarette.” http://lastangryfan.com/2011/04/six-racehorses-die-in-trailer-fire-sparked-by-discarded-cigarette/ • Slide 6: National Fire Protection Association. 2010. “Smoking.” http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=294&URL=Safety%20Information/For%20consumers/Causes/Smoking Tobacco 101: Module 9 7

8. Tobacco and the Environment Photograph Credits • Slides 1 and 2: Photographs courtesy of iStockphoto. • Slide 3: Photograph courtesy of North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund (Tobacco Reality Unfiltered contest recipient). • Slide 4: Photograph courtesy of Hemera Technologies/Photos.com. • Slide 6: Photograph courtesy of Chuck Moser/Photos.com. • Photographs are used for illustrative purposes only, and any persons depicted are models. Tobacco 101: Module 9 8 8

9. Prepared by Sterling Fulton-Smith, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services; Sandhya Joshi, RTI International; Caley Burrus, Duke University; Ronny Bell, Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity; and Barri Burrus, RTI International. March 2012