The press are making another push to ban cigarette filters on the grounds they are toxic for the environment and aren’t safer.
Essentra (ESNT.L) is a leading independent provider of these filters.
This scientific review article makes sober reading.
Evidence is presented that, not only are discarded filters not biodegradable, toxic chemicals actually leak from them such as arsenic, nicotine, PAHs, and heavy metals such as cadmium and lead.
They are not safer for smokers either – The National Cancer Institute’s comprehensive review of light and low-tar cigarettes concluded that “Epidemiological and other scientific evidence, including patterns of mortality from smoking-caused diseases, does not indicate a benefit to public health from changes in cigarette design and manufacturing over the last 50 years.”
“The yellow discolouration was an innovation deliberately created to reassure smokers that the filter was working, and comes from a change in pH rather than an accumulation of tar.”
