煙頭是最普遍的人造污染物

煙頭是最普遍的人造污染物

Plastics straws have been public enemy No. 1 for a while now, as companies, cities and even a couple of states have made strides to ban them. But there's a bigger villain we've been ignoring.

塑料吸管已經成為公眾頭號公敵有一段時間了，因為公司、城市甚至幾個州都在大力禁止使用塑料吸管。但我們忽略了一個更大的惡棍。

Cigarette butts — those pesky and toxic leftover remnants — contain plastic in the filters that isn't biodegradable. These butts easily find their way in our waterways and our greenspace simply because they're cast aside so indiscriminately. Getting rid of cigarette butts may help the health of humans, our oceans and our planet all at the same time.

煙頭——那些討厭的有毒殘留物——在過濾器中含有塑料，無法生物降解。這些煙蒂很容易在我們的水域和綠地中找到自己的路，僅僅是因為它們被如此不加區(qū)別地丟棄了。擺脫煙頭可能同時有助于人類、海洋和地球的健康。

Cigarette butts cause problems in any ecosystem they invade. (Photo: ucubestudio/Shutterstock)

We know cigarettes aren't good for us. The filters ostensibly reduce the amount of tar a smoker inhales when taking a drag. But filters force smokers to inhale more deeply to get the same sensation from the tar and nicotine. The result is the illusion of a healthier version of a bad-for-you product. And Novotny agrees: "It's pretty clear there is no health benefit from filters. They are just a marketing tool. And they make it easier for people to smoke."

我們知道香煙對我們不好。這些過濾器表面上減少了吸煙者吸入焦油的量。但是過濾器迫使吸煙者吸入更多的焦油和尼古丁來獲得同樣的感覺。其結果是一種對你有害的產品的健康版本的錯覺。Novotny對此表示贊同:“很明顯，過濾對健康沒有好處。它們只是一種營銷工具。他們讓人們更容易吸煙。”

Butts are problematic no matter where they end up, and not just because they're unsightly. Research led by Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, found that cigarette butts impede plants' development. The study, published in Exotoxicology and Environmental Safety, found that tossed butts reduced germination of ryegrass by 10 percent and white clover by 27 percent. The study went on to look at root-to-shoot ratio and discovered a negative influence there as well.

不管它們最終落在哪里，煙頭都是有問題的，這不僅僅是因為它們難看。英國劍橋安格利亞魯斯金大學的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，煙蒂阻礙植物的生長。這項發(fā)表在《外部毒理學與環(huán)境安全》雜志上的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，扔煙蒂會使黑麥草和白三葉草的發(fā)芽率分別降低10%和27%。研究繼續(xù)觀察根與莖的比例，還發(fā)現(xiàn)了負面的影響。

A sign at a global climate strike in Italy sums it up. (Photo: lara martone/Shutterstock)

Seemingly aware of the litter problem, cigarette companies have long attempted to help smokers dispose of the cigarettes butts, by sponsoring anti-litter campaigns and distributing permanent and disposable ashtrays. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. once distributed disposable pouches for smokers to discard their butts in.

長期以來，煙草公司似乎意識到了亂丟垃圾的問題，一直試圖通過贊助反亂丟垃圾運動、分發(fā)永久性和一次性煙灰缸，幫助吸煙者處理煙蒂。雷諾茲煙草公司曾經向吸煙者分發(fā)一次性煙袋，讓他們把煙頭扔進去。

Smokers have a hard time ditching the butt-flicking behavior, however. NBC News cited industry focus groups that found smokers thought ashtrays were too disgusting to use, believed filters were biodegradable, and thought butts needed to be put on the ground. One group even said that flicking the butt into the environment was simply "a natural extension of the defiant/rebellious smoking ritual."

然而，吸煙者很難改掉這種輕彈煙頭的習慣。美國全國廣播公司援引行業(yè)焦點團體的話說，吸煙者認為煙灰缸太惡心，不能使用，認為過濾器是可生物降解的，認為煙頭需要放在地上。一組人甚至說，把煙頭扔到環(huán)境中只是“挑釁/叛逆吸煙儀式的自然延伸”。

A cigarette butt looks out of place near a flower in a meadow. New research out of England reveals they have a bigger environmental impact on plants than smokers think. (Photo: Egeris/Shutterstock)

Legislators have struggled to get filters banned, and littering laws have always been difficult to enforce. Novotny told NBC News that any serious movement against filters will likely require the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association to get involved, just as they have regarding the dangers of cigarettes on human health.

立法者一直在努力禁止使用過濾器，而亂扔垃圾的法律也一直很難執(zhí)行。Novotny告訴NBC新聞，任何反對過濾器的嚴肅運動都可能需要美國癌癥協(xié)會、美國肺臟協(xié)會和美國心臟協(xié)會的參與，就像他們對香煙對人體健康的危害所做的那樣。

Of course, environmental health is human health; it's just a matter of getting everyone to see it that way.

當然，環(huán)境健康就是人類健康;只是“讓每個人都這樣認為”的問題。