746 - Why Cigarettes Are So Bad for the Environment
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2024
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Cigarette butts are the most littered object in the world. With their plastic filters and toxic substances, they are a significant source of contamination for soil and water. Grazi Grilo, a researcher at the Global Institute for Tobacco Control, talks with Stephanie Desmon about her work quantifying the scope of the problem, and why some of the very things that make cigarettes so environmentally hazardous also provide enormous benefits for the tobacco industry.Read more about her work here: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/institute-for-global-tobacco-control/2024/assessment-of-littered-cigarette-butts-in-brazil-informs-strengthening-of-global-treaty
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh. |
| 0:21.6 | Jh.edu. |
| 0:22.6 | That's public health question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:29.6 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:32.6 | We all know cigarettes are bad for our health. |
| 0:35.6 | Today, Stephanie Desmond talks to Grossey Grillo, |
| 0:38.5 | a scientist at the Institute of Global Tobacco Control at Johns Hopkins, about how cigarette waste, |
| 0:45.0 | notably cigarette butts and filters, are also bad for the environment. They discuss what can be |
| 0:50.6 | done to reduce this type of pollution. Let's listen. |
| 0:57.2 | Grazie Grillo, thanks so much for joining me. |
| 1:01.1 | Hi, Stephanie. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure. |
| 1:06.3 | So today we're going to talk about something I think that we see everywhere, but we don't really think a whole lot about. And that is tobacco litter and the environment. And I understand that |
| 1:13.0 | cigarette butts are the most littered objects in the world. So you're saying that the biggest |
| 1:18.8 | amount of waste comes from tobacco cigarette butts? Yes, Stephanie. That's correct. It is |
| 1:26.8 | estimated that about 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced |
| 1:31.4 | annually around the world, and of that amount, 4.5 trillion butts are discarded inappropriately. |
| 1:41.4 | And it's important to highlight that they stay with us forever. And they are the most |
| 1:47.3 | common form of litter found, including beach cleanups around the world. And their material, the |
| 1:54.6 | filter, the packaging, they all end up later in our soil and affect our waterways, among others. |
| 2:02.9 | That's just a really staggering number to hear that. |
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