Are you a Smoker ? Read it and Answer !

Whenever a non-smoker asks somebody to quit smoking, the very first thought that comes in mind of the smoker is "I am harming myself, not others. I don't want to quit ! Why the hell you want me to". Non-smokers ask somebody to quit either because they care for him/her or they know that ultimately smoking by anybody is harming everybody indirectly. Most of you will think that i am talking about secondhand smoke or passive smoking, but what i am going to describe here is much more than that.

The number of people killed due to Cigarette are more than those killed by guns every year. Guns at least need licence in most countries but cigarettes don't. Those killed by cigarettes are not just smokers, but even non-smoker adults, kids, pets, dairy animals, fishes and other marine life. All of then are not killed by passive smoking but by the litter caused by smokers.

Do you ever wonder where does the cigarette butts and packs end up. Most of the smokers throw them anywhere they want, and most of the cigarette butts end up either in soil or water ways. Most of the smokers think that these cigarette butts are bio-degradable, while they are not, as they contain some amount of plastic. It takes them 5 to 10 years to dispose themselves depending on where the end up.

Some of you might not be aware of the fact that cigarette butts are toxic waste, and thus need to be disposed properly. It is one of the most visible litter in US. You will be surprised to know that 1,362,741 cigarettes/butts, 18,555 cigarette lighters, 74,399 cigar tips, and 36,397 tobacco packages were removed from waterways of United States in 2009.

Chemicals leaching from single cigarette butt can kill a fish in a 1 Liter jar of water.  

One tree is cut to make paper for rolling and packing of every 300 cigarettes. Deforestation is also done to get land to grow tobacco. The land once used for tobacco farming can't be utilized for any other crop, as it become very toxic due to use of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals used in the cultivation of tobacco. Some trees are even cut to burn wood to dry the tobacco leaves. Ultimately it is one of the biggest causes of deforestation.

Deforestation is also done due to the fires caused by discarded burning cigarettes or cigarette butts. 17000 people die every year due to these fires and thousands are left homeless. A large number of these people are non-smokers or kids.

Smoking globally emits nearly 2.6 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide, 5.2 billion kilograms of methane and 209 kilograms of chemical waste into the atmosphere each year. The air pollution caused by forest fires due to cigarette butts is not included in these figures.

How Cigarettes are killing everything we know ?
Cigarettes are actually killing our ecosystem. Cigarette contains about 600 chemicals, 69 of which have been proven to cause cancer. It can produce over 7,000 chemicals when lit. The worst fact about these chemicals is that they are highly soluble in water.
All of the cigarette litter contaminates soil and water. Birds and pets like cats and dogs ingest cigarette butts and face serious health consequences like tremors, vomiting, respiratory failure, cancer and even death. It kills and disease the marine life as well. Fishes and other marine animals either get get killed by them of face health issues due to contaminated water.
Ultimately the toxins come back to human food. Grass growing in contaminated soil is eaten by cows, their milk and dairy products are used by us. Most of the contaminated marine animals also get served in our plates as most of them are caught from sea shores, which are dumping ground for cigarette litter.

Just one cigarette butt is dangerous if ingested by a human, a whole cigarette may be lethal if ingested.

Proper disposal of cigarette litter is necessary. Chemicals used in cigarettes begin to leach arsenic, acetone, ammonia, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, lead, and toluene when introduced to water.

I hope that after reading this article no smoker will ever say that he/she is only harming himself. He/she is actually killing everything we have seen, even some innocent kids.