VoTV seeks labelling of cigarette butts as toxic

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, December 7

Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV), a nation-wide anti-tobacco campaign has appealed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to look into the issue of waste produced by various kinds of tobacco products like cigarettes and bidi butts, besides chewing of tobacco.

In a letter to the CM, Dr Prahlad Duggal, patron, VoTV, Punjab, said there were existing set of rules for waste produced by the industry, but there were none governing the disposal of toxic waste produced by tobacco products. He said the state should take the initiative so that environment could be saved from degradation.

“Cigarettes have become a cause of serious concern for environmentalists. More than 100 billion cigarette butts are discarded in India every year, which contain harmful and cancer-causing chemicals. Besides cigarette and bidi butts lead to accidental fires and loss of life and property,” said Dr Duggal.

Duggal added that a substantial quantity of non-biodegradable cigarette butts was disposed ofevery year. He said, “Spitting of tobacco ruins aesthetics, besides spreading disease. The saliva of tobacco users is laden with carcinogens and toxic chemicals, which contaminates the environment.”

The VoTV said these issues were important as more than 24 lakh people used tobacco in some or the other form in Punjab.