Wanted: More smoke-free cities

The butts coming from cigarettes could cause serious damage to the environment. This is the message of the report released yesterday by an environmental watchdog. “Many smokers do not see cigarette butts as a major problem probably because of their small size; and many are not aware that discarded butts can pose a heavy toll on the environment,” warned Elsie Brandes-de Veyra of the Ecowaste Coalition. “But with the quantity of carelessly thrown butts in our surroundings, these can mean real toxic threats to humans.”

According to Ecowaste, cigarette butts could take up to 25 years to break down due to the cellulose acetate, a kind of plastic in the filters, that resists biodegradation. These also leak toxic chemicals into the water and soil as they disintegrate into tiny plastic powder. The cigarette butts often end up in storm drains and the seas where they are mistaken as food by birds, fishes and other animals. These creatures ingest the toxic substances, like arsenic, cadmium and lead contained in the filters, and may indirectly poison humans once they are eaten. Aside from these substances, cigarettes contain nicotine and tar, which get deposited in the bronchi and the lungs.

Other chemicals found in cigarettes are acetone, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, methane and benzopyrene. These chemicals and toxic substances are the major factors responsible for smoking related diseases such as acute bronchitis, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, emphysema, stroke and cancers of the nose, pharynx, larynx and lungs. There are an estimated 30 million smokers in the Philippines and about 75,000 Filipinos die yearly due to these diseases.

This is the reason why I welcome the plan of the Department of Finance to impose a single excise tax rate on sin products, especially cigarettes. Of course, the DOF's purpose is purely to generate additional revenues. If implemented, our country could generate as much as P86.5 billion in additional revenues annually. But my rationale for supporting this proposal is because of the country’s high mortality rate and, as what Ecowaste’s report mentioned, the environmental hazard, caused by smoking. Hopefully, the additional taxes would compel smokers to completely stop smoking and, consequently, save not just their own health, but the health of our environment as well.

I also would like to propose that signs advising the public to cut down on smoking be placed in all public buildings. I do hole that more city mayors will follow the smoking ban in public places imposed by the mayors of Marikina, Davao and Quezon City. Smoking contributes to the degradation of a country’s resources, whether human or environmental, and contributes to the further depletion of our ozone layer. By putting in place the mechanisms to deter smoking, we are also putting in place the mechanisms for our continued existence.