PROGGA urges banning cigarette filters

Staff Reporter :
PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress), a research and advocacy organization as well as a member of Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance (STPA), has urged the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, sending letters to work together in banning cigarette filters and vaporizers to address plastic pollution.

The letter upheld a landmark decision on the implementation of Article 18 (Protection of the Environment) adopted by the 183 Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Conference of the Parties (COP10), held on February 10, 2024.

WHO has recommended an immediate ban on cigarette filters and vaporizers as they are “unnecessary, avoidable and problematic, single-use plastics that are widely spread in the environment, killing microorganisms and marine life, as well as polluting oceans”.

Several Parties have already taken initiatives in terms of banning disposable vapes (Australia, UK), taxing the tobacco industry (Benin, Chad and Gambia), and calling for a ban on cigarette filters (Belgium, Netherlands).

On the issue of tobacco’s toxic impact on the environment, ABM Zubair, Executive
Director of PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) said, “On average, a staggering 71 billion
cigarette filters are tossed into the environment each year in Bangladesh. Cigarette filter
takes more than a decade to degrade and release more than 7,000 chemical substances in