44332 smoking and environment

Smoking and Environment
We all know about the effects of smoking on the health of smokers and the people
they smoke around. However, many people are unaware of the harmful effects of
smoking on the environment. So they must learn about it.

Smoking creates tremendous amounts of waste and pollution, making it terrible for
the environment.
Cigarette smoke contains approximately 4,000 chemicals. The air pollution that results
from cigarette smoke is 10 times greater than that from car fumes.
Each year, the world throws approximately 4.3 trillion cigarette butts. Many of these
cigarettes are never collected, since cigarettes are the most polluting item in the
world. Cigarette butts are made out of a plastic called cellulose acetate which
degrades very slowly in the environment. It can take up to 10 years for a cigarette
butt to decompose.
Once in contact with water, cigarettes leach toxic substances such as tar, cadmium,
lead and arsenic as well as nicotine into the soil and water bodies. This can harm any
living organism that comes in contact with the toxins. Cigarette butts often end up in
the intestines of marine life since they can be mistaken for food.
Cigarettes also use a lot of paper. In fact, 600 million trees are cut down per year to
supply the cigarette industry.
Tobacco is also grown using a lot of pesticides, including dangerous toxins such as
DDT and Aldrin, as well as Methyl Bromide, which depletes the ozone layer.
Clearly, the act of smoking and the waste it creates has a huge negative impact on
the environment. By quitting, you are not only making a healthy choice that will save
you money, you will also be doing the Earth a huge favour.
1. Why does cigarette smoke pollute the air?

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2. How do cigarettes pollute water?

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3. Does pollution caused by cigarettes affect food chains? How?

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4. Pick out a sentence from the text describing the following visuals.


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