8 Reasons Why Cigarettes are Neither Cool Nor Green

Just in case anyone still needs a reason to eschew cigarettes, dig this: smoking is very, very un-green.

By now, you probably aren't shocked when the American Lung Association declares: "Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 430,700 American lives each year. Smoking costs the United States approximately $97.2 billion each year in health-care costs and lost productivity. It is directly responsible for 87% of lung cancer cases and causes most cases of emphysema and chronic bronchitis."

Smoking will kill one in ten adults worldwide (5 million deaths each year). By 2020, those numbers are expected to double. Yep, despite what our culture tries to teach us, smoking kills you and it kills some of those around you. It even promotes corporate welfare. But did you also know that smoking is a decidedly un-cool, un-green habit?

8 Reasons Why Cigarettes Are Neither Cool or Green

1. Butts

At least 4.5 trillion [non-biodegradable] filter-tipped cigarettes are deposited annually somewhere in the world. So, until you quit, at least control your butts.

2. Deforestation

Five percent of deforestation in Africa is directly related to tobacco. Forests are cleared to make room for large scale tobacco planting. Further clearing occurs when wood is needed to cure tobacco leaves and in countries where wood isn't used, coal or oil is substituted for drying. In Malawi, where ancient dry forests are under threat, tobacco accounts for 20% of deforestation. Each year nearly 600 million trees are destroyed to provide fuel to dry tobacco. Put another way: one tree is destroyed for every 300 cigarettes. In addition, the aforementioned tobacco curing requires 11.4 million tons of solid wood annually.

3. Ocean Pollution

Cigarette related debris is the second most abundant form of marine litter (behind plastic). As reported by TreeHugger, "About 40% of the litter in the Mediterranean Sea is smoking-related from butts and wrapping ... In Ecuador, smoking-related refuse accounted for more than half of coastal garbage." Give new meaning to the phrase "smoke on the water". Help ban the bags, butts and bottles!

4. Toxic Ingredients

There are more than 4,000 chemicals in each cigarette. For example:

- Tar: the same thick black substance used to pave roads and driveways

- Formaldehyde: the same stuff used to preserve dead animals

- Cyanide: a main ingredient in rat poison

- Lead: also found in some kinds of paint, the toxic kind

- Acetone: a common ingredient in paint and nail polish remover

- Carbon monoxide: the same stuff that escapes from the exhaust in cars

- Hydrazine: a chemical used in jets and rocket fuel

These chemicals are bad for you and bad for the planet.

5. Radiation

Cigarette smoke also contains polonium 210, a radioactive element. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that found a person who smokes 20 cigarettes a day receives a dose of radiation each year equivalent to about 200 chest x-rays.

6. Pesticides

To keep tobacco crops disease-free involves up to 16 applications of pesticide during a three-month growing period. This means Aldrin and Dieldrin, and Methyl bromide?not only sprayed but also contaminating local water supplies.

7. Paper Waste

A modern cigarette manufacturing machine can use up to 3.7 miles of paper an hour.

8. Secondhand Smoke

Cigarettes are the main source of indoor air pollution in the developed world. As defined by the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke is a "mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma."

How to get help quitting smoking

Smoking cigarettes is an addictive habit and quitting an addictive habit is never easy. The government has a website you can visit for some guidance. You may also wish to heed some tried and true tips and consider the many options at your disposal in your struggle to conquer the smoking habit and switch to the green habit.