Filters attracting attention again

A smoke-free advocacy group is calling for tobacco companies to be held legally responsible for the environmental problems caused by their products, according to a Radio New Zealand story.

The story quoted new research published in the Tobacco Control Journal that is said to have found that 98 percent of all cigarettes include filters made of materials that are not biodegradable.

Smokefree Coalition executive director Prudence Stone said it was possible that up to four trillion filters were discarded by smokers worldwide each year.

“Now the Ministry of Health can look to the Ministry for the Environment and see partnership there, in a framework that sees the damage done to our shared environment; it’s not just a health issue anymore, tobacco is an environmental issue as well,” she was quoted as saying.

Stone said she wanted regulations that forced the tobacco industry to be legally responsible for the environmentally unsafe components of cigarettes.