SACRAMENTO, Calif.,
April 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The
Fourth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) to develop
an international legally binding treaty on ending plastic
pollution, adjourned April 29, 2024,
in Ottawa, Canada after a week of
slow but meaningful progress. ASH and its Stop Tobacco Pollution
Alliance (STPA) allies were pleased with the support of government
delegations for a ban on cigarette filters, the largest source of
global plastic pollution.
Negotiators seek to regulate plastic products according to their
utility and environmental harm, with nonessential, polluting
plastics slated for complete bans. Cigarette filters are a prime
example.
At the INC-4 negotiations, several countries proposed banning
cigarette filters, including Peru,
Panama, and Switzerland. The World Health Organization
also made a joint statement with the Secretariat of the Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to call for a cigarette filter
and other single use tobacco plastic product waste ban. Their joint
statement called on the INC to acknowledge a WHO FCTC COP10 Decision on the environmental impact of
tobacco.
The list of plastics to be banned will be finalized at INC-5
starting November 25, 2024, in
Busan, Republic of Korea, but
given the criteria established it seems clear that cigarette
filters belong at the top of the list.
Cigarette filters do nothing to lessen the harms of smoking and
may make things worse. Roughly 4.5 trillion used filters, or
cigarette butts, are tossed into the environment each year. Filters
are made of cellulose acetate that breaks down into microplastics,
and leaches toxins and carcinogens into terrestrial and aquatic
environments. They are also attached to cigarettes, the world's
leading cause of preventable death.
"It's essential to remember that we don't need industry
permission to build a healthy environment, free from trillions of
cigarette butts and other harmful plastics. We must demand our
right to a healthy environment, and governments have a duty, both
ethical and legal, to provide it," said Laurent Huber, Executive Director at Action on
Smoking and Health. "The right to a healthy environment has
been recognized by the UN General Assembly. Banning cigarette
filters is a step in the right direction to protecting those and
many other essential human rights."
The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights made a
statement at INC-1 and again at INC-4, calling to center the
Plastics Treaty in human rights.
Recycling cigarette filters is not a viable solution. Even
if a substantial fraction of cigarette butts could be collected – a
near impossibility – there is no process for removing the toxins,
recycling the plastic or turning the recycled plastic into other
products.
Representatives from several of California's environmental agencies attended
INC-4, in particular the All Hands on Deck session convened by
Ocean Conservancy and The Nature Conservancy California which
featured Congressman Jared Huffman
(CA-02) as a speaker. Several cities in California also supported the launch of the
local and subregional coalition that launched on Earth Day.
Over 98% of cigarettes include filters. Filter-less cigarettes
would greatly reduce youth uptake, encourage adults to quit, and
remove the leading source of plastic pollution.
ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH
Founded in 1967,
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is America's oldest anti-tobacco
organization, dedicated to a world with ZERO tobacco deaths.
Because tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death
worldwide, ASH supports bold solutions proportionate to the
magnitude of the problem. ash.org
Media Contact:
Megan
Manning
(202) 390 – 9513
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/un-plastics-treaty-negotiations-move-forward-with-strong-support-for-banning-cigarette-filters-302132250.html
SOURCE ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH