Green Junction - A Familiar Cycle: Industry, Pollution, and Public Health

The connection between pollution and disease is often complex and takes time to establish. Cigarette smoke was associated with heart diseases in the 1950s, but the public messaging of the health problems lagged. When more scientific evidence was compiled linking cigarette smoke pollutants to lung cancer and chronic bronchitis, a Surgeon General report was requested by President Kennedy in 1964. The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which required stronger warnings on cigarette packaging and prohibition of smoking advertisements on radio and television, was signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon. Other smoking bans followed later, such as President Bill Clinton’ 1997 executive order ban on smoking in federal government buildings.

Vaping, or the use of e-cigarettes, was commercialized in 2003 and introduced into Europe and the US in 2006. Even though these alternatives to cigarettes are either banned or restricted by many countries, an estimated 8% of adults in the United States and as many as 100 million people worldwide use them. In addition to toxic chemicals similar to cigarettes, vaping devises contain small lithium-ion batteries and a significant amount of plastic. According to the American Lung Association, “toxic chemicals and metals have all been found in e-cigarettes.” Consequently, the United States EPA classifies e-cigarettes as hazardous waste.

Society has known the damaging health consequences associated with cigarette pollution for decades. Now, an estimated half million e-cigarettes, devices containing many of the same toxic chemicals and other materials that are damaging to public and environmental health, are thrown away every day in the US. 

Public health expert, Dr. Bruce Lanphear, explains in his recent Substack column, “For decades, industries associated with these [pollutant] hazards have questioned the evidence, emphasized uncertainty, delayed regulation, and shifted responsibility onto individuals.” He describes how chronic diseases, those that develop over a longer period of time and often from exposure to toxic chemicals, do not instigate the same level of attention as infectious diseases. His thorough analysis suggests that the difficulty in reducing many harmful pollutants is likely due to the influence of the industries. “The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health estimated that pollution contributes to roughly nine million deaths each year worldwide.” Maybe the connection is clearer than we are told.