烟头是最普遍的人造污染物

烟头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.

塑料吸管已经成为公众头号公敌有一段时间了，因为公司、城市甚至几个州都在大力禁止使用塑料吸管。但我们忽略了一个更大的恶棍。

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.

烟头——那些讨厌的有毒残留物——在过滤器中含有塑料，无法生物降解。这些烟蒂很容易在我们的水域和绿地中找到自己的路，仅仅是因为它们被如此不加区别地丢弃了。摆脱烟头可能同时有助于人类、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."

我们知道香烟对我们不好。这些过滤器表面上减少了吸烟者吸入焦油的量。但是过滤器迫使吸烟者吸入更多的焦油和尼古丁来获得同样的感觉。其结果是一种对你有害的产品的健康版本的错觉。Novotny对此表示赞同:“很明显，过滤对健康没有好处。它们只是一种营销工具。他们让人们更容易吸烟。”

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.

不管它们最终落在哪里，烟头都是有问题的，这不仅仅是因为它们难看。英国剑桥安格利亚鲁斯金大学的研究发现，烟蒂阻碍植物的生长。这项发表在《外部毒理学与环境安全》杂志上的研究发现，扔烟蒂会使黑麦草和白三叶草的发芽率分别降低10%和27%。研究继续观察根与茎的比例，还发现了负面的影响。

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.

长期以来，烟草公司似乎意识到了乱丢垃圾的问题，一直试图通过赞助反乱丢垃圾运动、分发永久性和一次性烟灰缸，帮助吸烟者处理烟蒂。雷诺兹烟草公司曾经向吸烟者分发一次性烟袋，让他们把烟头扔进去。

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，吸烟者很难改掉这种轻弹烟头的习惯。美国全国广播公司援引行业焦点团体的话说，吸烟者认为烟灰缸太恶心，不能使用，认为过滤器是可生物降解的，认为烟头需要放在地上。一组人甚至说，把烟头扔到环境中只是“挑衅/叛逆吸烟仪式的自然延伸”。

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过滤器，而乱扔垃圾的法律也一直很难执行。Novotny告诉NBC新闻，任何反对过滤器的严肃运动都可能需要美国癌症协会、美国肺脏协会和美国心脏协会的参与，就像他们对香烟对人体健康的危害所做的那样。

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

当然，环境健康就是人类健康;只是“让每个人都这样认为”的问题。