Cigarette filters do not work and are a major source of plastic pollution that should be banned by the UK government, experts have said.
In an editorial in Addiction, the journal for the Society for the Study of Addiction, researchers argue that ministers should use a forthcoming tobacco and vapes bill to “ban filters in the interests of public health and the environment”.
“Cigarette filters were designed to give the false impression of safety,” said Dr Katherine East, associate professor in public health at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who is lead author on the editorial.
“In reality, they do not reduce toxicant exposure and may even increase harm, because they lead people to inhale deeper and for longer and can embed harmful fibres and microplastics in the lungs. They are also a major contributor to the global plastic waste crisis.”
The number of smokers in the UK has been falling since at least 2011, but about 6 million adults in the country still smoke, on average consuming about 11 cigarettes a day. Even as more people choose to roll their own cigarettes to save money, most continue to use filters – technically single-use plastics – usually for health reasons.
East and her colleagues cited polling showing that more than three-quarters of people – and more than four-fifths of smokers – erroneously believe filters protect against the health harms of smoking.
In fact, they argued, filters could actually increase the harm from cigarettes, by making them more palatable, by compelling users to inhale more deeply to achieve the same nicotine buzz, and by shedding cellulose acetate fibres and microplastics into users’ lungs.
“In combination, these factors mean that the introduction of filters has led to an increase in deadly lung adenocarcinoma,” the researchers write.
The tobacco and vapes bill would prevent anyone born from 2009 from legally smoking by gradually raising the age at which tobacco can be bought. But East and her co-authors argue it also “provides a unique opportunity to further regulate tobacco products”. But, they add: “Any ban of cigarettes with filters and filter accessories should be accompanied by public education campaigns to dispel misperceptions about cigarette filters.”
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Hazel Cheeseman, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, and one of the authors says: “Filters are a marketing con to keep people smoking, protecting tobacco industry profits. This incredibly successful deception means the majority of people are unaware filters have no health benefits. The government has an opportunity to stop enabling this deception and ban filters outright.
“The editorial calls for strong public education campaigns to dispel myths about cigarette filters alongside regulations, and to highlight how the tobacco industry has long used them to mislead consumers.”
