World No Tobacco Day 2025: Towards Greener Earth

THE WORLD has been observing World No Tobacco Day every May 31 since 1987. This year’s theme, “Unmasking the appeal: exposing industry tactics on tobacco and nicotine products” holds immense significance in the modern world fight against tobacco use among children and young people, and the future generation. An estimated 37 million children aged 13-15 years worldwide use tobacco, according to a WHO report. The global observation can also help protect not only health, but also the environment which has been facing colossal damage and loss due to tobacco menace.

The tobacco industry, which is facing a decline owing to the growing public awareness, is today targeting the next generation with various means. With sophisticated and insidious tactics, the industry today exploits the pervasiveness of social media with brand influencer to add glamour to tobacco use and lure young people. Flavored e-cigarette is another design to attract them. Flavours are found in many nicotine and tobacco products which are highly addictive and potential health complications rising among adolescents. This not only threatens their immediate health but would also have lifetime effects.

While the world is urging students and youths to come forward for environmental protection, the tobacco industries are leveraging them.

Smoking harms nearly every body part and organ system and smokers die 6 to10 years earlier than their non-smoking counterparts. Smoking makes it harder for a woman to get pregnant and risk of miscarriage, having low birth weight and babies born with a cleft lip. Men who smoke are at greater risk of erectile dysfunction.

There is no safe level for smoking. The longer a smoker’s duration, the greater is the injury. Smoking even just one cigarette per day can cause smoking-related deaths. While on smoking, the heart rate, blood pressure and the level of blood CO₂ increases, reducing the blood’s ability to carry oxygen. Earlier people thought smoking is risky for respiratory diseases and lungs but smoking also causes multifarious diseases. Tobacco kills more people than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined worldwide.

Tobacco smoke contains harmful chemicals both for smokers and nonsmokers. Mortality rates among smokers are about three times higher than who never smoked. Among 7000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful and at least 69 can cause cancer. Every cigarette smoked or tobacco products pollute and diminish our natural environment.

India with 11.2 per cent of world’s total smokers is the second highest and tobacco kills about 1.34 million Indians every year. It is estimated that about 29 per cent of the adult Indian smoke tobacco and other smokeless products like khaini, gutkha and zarda. As per a report, smokers in India consumed an average of 8.2 cigarettes per day and thus the country consumes annually more than 6 trillion. The total costs of tobacco equate to 1.04 per cent of the country’s GDP and direct medical costs of tobacco related amount to 5.3 per cent of the total health expenditure.

Tobacco use in Manipur is significantly higher with over 55.1 per cent of the population engaging in some form of smoking and non-smoke tobacco consumption exceeding the national average of 29 per cent. This includes the consumption of Pan quid zarda among womenfolk and khaini/gudkha among men.

Massive environmental damage

The tobacco industry damages the environment far beyond the effects of the smoke that put into the air. Long after a cigarette has been extinguished it continues to cause environmental damage in the form of non-biodegradable butts – millions of kilograms of which are discarded every year.

Tobacco industry has the impact to the triple planetary crisis of the climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. According to WHO, about 3.5 million hectares of land are cleared for growing tobacco each year. Tobacco cultivation not only causes ‘Green Tobacco Sickness’ but results in soil degradation, making it infertile to support the growth of other crops. India is the second-largest tobacco producer with 9 per cent after China. According to ICAR, India produced around 766,000 tons of tobacco in 2020 over 40 lakh hectares. The sector provides jobs to millions of people and contributes as much as Rs 22,737 crore as excise duty and Rs 5,969 crore in foreign exchange.  But the total economic costs attributed to tobacco use from all diseases in India for persons aged 35 and above amounted to Rs 1,77,341 crore.

The environmental impact of tobacco cultivation is enormous. Tobacco is a nutrient-hungry crop and it depletes soil nutrients more rapidly. Tobacco growing and manufacturing poisoned our water, air, soil and pollutes the beaches and city streets with chemicals, toxic waste, cigarette butts, including microplastics and e-cigarette waste. Tobacco cultivation requires large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides which degrade the overall environment. Tobacco cultivation being mainly a mono-crop, enhance soil erosion, fertility and biodiversity lost.

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To cope with tobacco menace, the Government of India enacted the “Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Acts 2003” which include the prohibition of smoking in public places, advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products, sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to anyone below the age of 18 years and prohibition of selling areas like schools, colleges. Under National Tobacco Control Progamme and Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, farmers are encouraged to replace tobacco crop with other alternatives like sugarcane, onion, maize, groundnut and soybean farming.

The tobacco industry is adding pressure to our planet’s already scarce resources and fragile ecosystem. With tobacco industries, 600 million trees are cut to make cigarette rolling papers which responsible for five per cent of all global deforestation, emitting 84 megatons of CO₂ emission. The industry consumed 22 billion litres of water and burned 11.4 million metric tons of wood to cure tobacco annually, challenging the climate and ecosystem. Collection of tendu leaf also damages forests.

Now, tobacco can no longer be categorized simply as a health threat to individual – it is a threat to entire humanity and the planet. It is not just about the lives of smokers but itstakes on the fate of everyone. Reducing tobacco consumption is the key for overall environmental health. Therefore, let’s celebrate World No Tobacco Day for our health and environment.

The author is an Environmentalist, presently working as District Forest Offier, Chandel district, Manipur. The author can be reached at nmunall@yahoo.in

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