たばこ産業の環境への影響は「衝撃的」　ＷＨＯ

【ジュネーブＡＦＰ＝時事】世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）は３１日、たばこ産業が世界最大規模の環境汚染を行っていると非難した。たばこは膨大なごみを発生させ、温暖化を加速させるなど、多くの人が考えるよりもはるかに大きな脅威となっているとしている。（資料写真）
　たばこ産業は大規模な森林伐採を引き起こしているほか、貧困国で必要とされる土地と水を食料生産以外に使用し、プラスチックや化学廃棄物を出し、何千万トンもの二酸化炭素（ＣＯ２）を排出している。
　ＷＨＯは「世界禁煙デー」に合わせ公表した報告書で、業界に責任を負わせ、浄化のための費用を負担させるべきだと提言している。
　報告書「たばこ：私たちの地球を汚染するもの」は、葉の生産やたばこの製造、消費、ごみの問題など全サイクルにおける環境への影響をまとめた。
　ＷＨＯのヘルスプロモーション部門責任者リュディガー・クレッチ氏はＡＦＰに対し、報告書の内容は「極めて衝撃的だ」と指摘。たばこ産業が知る限りで最大規模の汚染を行っていると非難した。
　報告書によると、たばこ産業のために毎年約６億本の木が伐採されている。さらに、タバコの葉の生産と製品製造のため毎年２０万ヘクタールの土地と２２０億トンの水が使用されている。ＣＯ２排出量は約８４００万トンに上る。
　毎年、推定４兆５０００億本の吸い殻が海や川に流入し、浜辺や歩道に残される。たばこには７０００種類以上の有害な化学成分が含まれ、吸い殻一つで１００リットルの水を汚染する。また、紙巻きたばこのフィルターは、マイクロプラスチックになる。
　たばこの製造・輸送で排出される温室効果ガスは、航空業界全体の排出量の５分の１に相当し、世界の排出量の大きな割合を占めている。
　紙巻きたばこ、無煙たばこ、電子たばこなどの製品が、世界のプラごみ増加の大きな要因となっていると、ＷＨＯは指摘する。
　報告書ではさらに、吸い殻の清掃に世界中で多額の税金が使われていると指摘。清掃費用は毎年、中国では２６億ドル（約３３００億円）、インドでは７億ドル（約９８０億円）、ブラジルとドイツではそれぞれ２億ドル（約２５５億円）に上ることが分かった。
　クレッチ氏は、フランスやスペインで定められているように、たばこ産業に「自分たちがつくり出したごみ」の後始末の費用を負担させることが重要だと指摘した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/06/01-18:14）

The tobacco industry is a far greater threat than many realise as it is one of the world's biggest polluters, from leaving mountains of waste to driving global warming, the WHO said Tuesday.
The World Health Organization accused the industry of causing widespread deforestation, diverting badly needed land and water in poor countries away from food production, spewing out plastic and chemical waste as well as emitting millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.
In its report released on World No Tobacco Day, the UN agency called for the tobacco industry to be held to account and foot the bill for the cleanup.
The report, Tobacco: poisoning our planet, looks at the impacts of the whole cycle, from the growth of plants to the manufacturing of tobacco products, to consumption and waste.
While tobacco's health impacts have been well documented for decades -- with smoking still causing more than eight million deaths worldwide every year -- the report focuses on its broader environmental consequences.
The findings are quite devastating, Ruediger Krech, WHO director of health promotion, told AFP, charging that the industry is one of the biggest polluters that we know of.
- Poison -
He slammed tobacco companies' frequent efforts to rehabilitate their image through beach cleanups and funding environmental and disaster relief organisations as greenwashing.
The tobacco industry dumps toxic waste into communities and depletes natural resources, he told a press conference.
Tobacco is not only poisoning people, it's poisoning our planet.
The industry is responsible for the loss of some 600 million trees each year -- or five percent of global deforestation -- while tobacco growing and production uses 200,000 hectares of land and 22 billion tonnes of water annually, the report found.
It also emits around 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it said.
In addition, tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, containing over 7,000 toxic chemicals, which leech into our environment when discarded, Krech said.
- 4.5 trillion cigarette butts -
He pointed out that each one of the estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts that end up in the oceans, rivers, sidewalks and beaches every year can pollute 100 litres of water.
And up to a quarter of all tobacco farmers contract so-called green tobacco sickness, or poisoning from the nicotine they absorb through the skin.
Farmers who handle tobacco leaves all day consume the equivalent of 50 cigarettes worth of nicotine a day, Krech said.
This is especially worrying for the many children involved in tobacco farming.
Just imagine a 12-year-old being exposed to 50 cigarettes a day, he said.
Most tobacco is grown in poorer countries, where water and farmland are often in short supply, and where such crops are often grown at the expense of vital food production, the report said.
UN agencies have launched a project to try to help farmers transition to other crops.
- Plastic pollution -
At the same time the processing and transportation of tobacco account for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions -- with the equivalent of one-fifth of the global airline industry's carbon footprint.
In addition, products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also contribute significantly to the global build-up of plastic pollution, WHO warned.
Cigarette filters contain microplastics -- the tiny fragments that have been detected in every ocean and even at the bottom of the world's deepest trench -- and make up the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide, the report said.
Stressing that there is no evidence filters provide any proven health benefits over smoking non-filtered cigarettes, the UN agency urged policy makers worldwide to consider banning them.
The WHO also called for governments to immediately halt the some $500 billion in subsidies the tobacco industry receives each year, and also urged them to stop allowing taxpayers to foot the bill for cleaning up the industry's mess.
Each year, China for instance dishes out around $2.6 billion and India around $766 million, while Brazil and Germany pay some $200 million each to clean up littered tobacco products, the report found.
It is important, Krech said, that the industry pay actually for the mess that they are creating.