Cigarette butts kill millions of animals, fish and birds
A recent article in The Age, shocked me with its findings. 240 million cigarette butts a year are washed down storm water drains and end up in Melbourne’s water ways and finally Port Phillip Bay. They are part of the 7.2 billion cigarette butts tossed in Australia each year, part of an estimated 4.5 TRILLION cigarette butts tossed world wide which end up in waterways and oceans, leaking traces of 4000 toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke and take 12 years to decompose. These are estimated to kill millions of animals, fish and birds each year. Just a little cigarette, huh? Tax payers will now finance the $1.2 million dollar “Don’t Be a Tosser” campaign aimed at the 18% of smokers in Victoria. If smoking is all about choice, we must also consider the choices do we have about our wildlife, waterways and the life reliant on these.
Donna Williams
I beleive that we need some graphic environmental warnings as well as heath warnings & better if ciggarettes are not invented in the 1st place. in other words, I totally agree!