President: Tobacco harmful not just to health, but also environment

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said on Tuesday that tobacco wasn’t just harmful to the health, but also the environment.

He made the remark in his address on occasion of World No-Tobacco Day.

In his address, President Solih that every process that went into manufacturing tobacco products was damaging to the environment, and indirectly exposed human health to various threats.

 President Solih said that an average of 600 million trees are cut down each year to produce cigarettes, while factories that manufacture cigarettes emit 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and consume 22 billion tonnes of water each year.

He said that 4.5 trillion used filters are discarded, producing 766 tonnes of hazardous waste each year, contaminating the air, land and waters.

President Solih said the time had come to quit tobacco to protect the environment for future generations.

He also congratulated the people who are trying to quit tobacco.

The theme for this year’s World No-Tobacco Day is “Protect the Environment”. According to WHO, the harmful impact of the tobacco industry on the environment is vast and growing, adding unnecessary pressure to our planet's already scarce resources and fragile ecosystems.