Doctors, NGOs build pressure on Centre to declare cigarette butts as toxic waste

Doctors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have come together to build pressure on the Central government, so that it declares cigarette and bidi butts as toxic waste. NGO Doctors for You has filed a petition regarding the same with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), saying a filter of a single cigarette contains over 4,000 harmful chemicals. It stated that over 100 billion cigarette butts are discarded in India every year, which contain harmful, cancer-causing chemicals.

The NGT has now asked the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), ministry of health and family welfare and the central pollution control board (CPCB) to file their response on the harm caused by cigarette or bidi butts and chewing tobacco to the environment.

Dr Ravikant Singh, a member of Doctors For You, said, "Cigarettes have become a cause of serious concern for environmentalists. The Kerala state forest department recently revealed that around 60 hectares of forest was lost between February 2009 and March 2010 due to fires started by carelessly thrown cigarette butts. In Hyderabad, from January 2010 to March 2013, 1,333 cases of fires caused by cigarettes were reported." He added that research has shown that about 25-50 per cent of litter accumulated from the streets comprises tobacco residues.

"While India is working towards Swachh Bharat, 100 billion non-biodegradable cigarette butts are getting disposed off into the environment every year. There are no known processes of segregating or collecting cigarette butts in the world," he added.

Regarding tobacco spitting, the NGO gave the example of Howrah Bridge, whose pillars are reportedly corroding due to the acid in tobacco residue. "The saliva of tobacco users is laden with carcinogens and toxic chemicals, which contaminates the environment," Dr Singh added.

Over 31.4 per cent of adults in Maharashtra use tobacco in some or the other form. Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, professor and surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital, said, "Cigarette butts consist of remnant tobacco, filter and a paper wrap. They also contain carcinogens, nicotine, and toxic metals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead in a highly concentrated form. All these pose high risk to public health. Action must be taken at the earliest to contain such hazardous litter."