No ifs, ands or butts: California bill would ban single-use smoking products like cigarette filters
“For more than half a century, tobacco filters have caused a public and environmental health crisis that found renewed vigor in recent years as the tobacco industry began to sell electronic vape products,” Assemblymember Luz Rivas , who introduced the bill, said in a news release Tuesday.
Supporters of the bill said cigarette butts, which are not biodegradable and are pervasive along the coast, do not offer health benefits for smokers, cost Los Angeles and the state millions of dollars a year to clean up and release toxic microplastics into the environment. Nicholas Mallos, senior director of the Trash Free Seas Program at the Ocean Conservancy, said in the news release that in 2020, cigarette butts made up nearly 30% of the trash collected by volunteers on Coastal Cleanup Day.
The bill also targets vape products that, although advertised as disposable, contain batteries and fluids that damage the environment.A bill that would require California school kids to be vaccinated raises debate over parent rights and the role of the government, among other matters.