The Great Cigarette Filter Fraud
Did you know that cigarette filters provide no health benefit at all? They don’t actually ‘filter’ the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes, despite what their name suggests. In fact, they’ve been dubbed ‘the deadliest fraud in human civilisation’.
Yet, most people still believe that filters make smoking safer. This is no accident; clever marketing by tobacco companies has kept this myth alive for decades. If you thought filters made smoking less harmful, you’re not alone – keep reading!
A marketing gimmick
Filters were developed not to reduce harm, but to calm public fears about the link between smoking and lung cancer. Instead of sitting back and allowing the evidence to encourage quitting, the tobacco industry created filters to keep people smoking.
An internal memo from Phillip Morris, one of the world’s largest tobacco companies, admitted that filters were ‘an effective marketing gimmick’. They were even designed to turn from white to brown when exposed to smoke, to give an illusion of ‘absorbing’ some of the harmful chemicals in the product. In reality, filters do nothing to protect smokers from the dangers of tobacco.
1960s TV ad for Parliament cigarettes, featuring their ‘recessed Hi-Fi filter.’ Marketed with the tagline ‘only the flavor (sic) touches your lips,’ the design was originally a gimmick before being framed as a health benefit.
An environmental disaster
Filters are also a scourge of the environment, making up 66% of littered items in the UK and costing local authorities around £40 million per year to clean up. They leach toxic chemicals into rivers, lakes and soils and pose a hazard to wildlife. They can be mistaken by birds and marine animals for food - causing choking, digestive issues or death when ingested.
What should be done?
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is an opportunity for the Government to do something about this.
One suggestion is an amendment which bans filters that contain single use plastics.
However, this is insufficient for two reasons.
- Biodegradable filters are still harmful for the environment.
Even if filters were made from biodegradable materials, they still contain toxic chemicals when used with tobacco. These chemicals don’t just disappear – studies have shown that biodegradable filters are equally destructive to freshwater life.
What’s worse, people may be more likely to litter biodegradable filters, wrongly assuming they’re safe for the environment. - Biodegradable filters, like single use plastic filters, have no health benefit.
Tobacco companies are already trying to ‘greenwash’ filters by marketing plastic-free alternatives. Greenbutts, the company behind the Plastic Free Butts campaign, has a senior leadership team with a colourful history of working for Big Tobacco. Companies like this profit from the continued consumption of tobacco and should not have a say in public health policy.
The best option is a ban on all cigarette filters. This would prevent the tobacco industry from ‘greenwashing’ – deceiving consumers into thinking filters offer any real protection – while also reducing environmental harm.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for such a ban and argues that removing filters would lead to an increase in quit attempts due to increased awareness of the harms of smoking and filter-less smoking being a less pleasant experience. It would also be a great opportunity to increase awareness of the harms of tobacco.
If this Government is serious about halving the gap in healthy life expectancy, they must be bold on smoking, which is responsible for half of that difference. Ending the use of pointless, single-use plastic filters would be a huge win for both public health and the environment. The tobacco industry has fooled the public for long enough – it’s time to ban filters once and for all.