Cigarettes vs E-cigarettes: Which Is Less Environmentally Harmful?

[Bill Godshall]

A new article from National Geographic.

Cigarettes vs E-cigarettes: Which Is Less Environmentally Harmful?
Cigarettes vs. e-Cigarettes: Which Is Less Environmentally Harmful? – News Watch

A somewhat balanced article, but it repeats false and misleading propaganda by FDA and others.

I just left a comment, and urge others to do so.

 

[markfm]

5 out of 6 of the comments I see on the article are spam. Unfortunately your post doesn't seem to be showing yet.

 

[Bill Godshall]

My comment was awaiting consideration, but I too notice the spam comments (don't know how they were approved).

I believe the other comment was posted by Jon Krueger, who is a tobacco prohibitionist from California who vehemently opposes tobacco harm reduction.

The reason I encourage positive comments to be posted on this article is because most tobacco prohibitionist and tobacco harm reduction opponents are also left wing "environmentalists".

 

[markfm]

Thanks for your insight on this. I have a comment in to moderation, brief discussion of comparative trash levels (and that due to the infrequency of changeouts there's much lower likelihood of casual disposal), nicotine absorption, and the "gateway" bit.

 

[MattZuke]

The reason I encourage positive comments to be posted on this article is because most tobacco prohibitionist and tobacco harm reduction opponents are also left wing "environmentalists".

I tried posting on the subject of "environmentalism".

Bottom line is I don't know what is more economically friendly, the resources we put into on 14500 battery/year, and presuming coal power the ~1.4kg of coal used to charge 900mAh every day for a year, or a plant that sequesters carbon from the atmosphere more than is released (I suspect) when burnt.

Obviously 7.3kg of tobacco burnt by the pack/day smoker per year makes for more volume of pollution, but coal is more toxic per gram.

E-cigs produce less trash without a doubt. 50 cartos per year vs 7300 filters per year. 7.3kg of tobacco vs ~1 liter of liquid and 16gram recyclable battery. But it's a question of what it takes to produce each battery, the steel and misc parts, and the nicotine.