What is the aim of the campaign and how does it relate to other environmental issues in Nigeria?
TB: The aim of the campaign is to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke by promoting the national tobacco control bill in the parliament in order to reduce continually and substantially the prevalence of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke. Every aspect of cigarette production is a contributory factor to environmental degradation. Clearing of land for tobacco farming, cutting wood to cure leaves and for making paper for packaging cigarette, leads to deforestation and other environmental blight. For the production of the “flue-cured” tobacco [at] BAT’s Training and Demonstration Centre in Iseyin, Oyo State, huge mass[es] of wood dot all the curing barns in the facility. In curing tobacco leaves, they are first stacked on poles, where heat from the wood is directed at them over a minimum one week period. Cutting of trees for tobacco curing accounts for
