Editing Tobacco (section)

====Environment====
Tobacco production requires the use of large amounts of [[pesticide]]s. Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field.<ref name="Taylor, Peter 1994">{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Peter|title=Smoke Ring: The Politics of Tobacco|publisher=Panos Briefing Paper|location=London|date=September 1994}}</ref> Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to produce larger crops in less time because of the decreasing market value of tobacco. Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides, as well as fertilizers, end up in the soil, waterways, and the food chain.<ref>{{cite book|title=FAO Yearbook, Production, Volume 48|year=1995}}</ref> Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat. Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk, as well as harm their nervous and immune systems.<ref>{{Cite book |last=National Research Council (US) Committee on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236276/ |title=Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children |date=1993 |publisher=[[National Academies Press]] |isbn=978-0-309-04875-0 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=341 |chapter=Chapter 8 Estimating the Risks |doi=10.17226/2126 |pmid=25144038 |oclc=42329648}}</ref>

As with all crops, tobacco crops extract nutrients (such as [[phosphorus]], [[nitrogen]], and [[potassium]]) from soil, decreasing its fertility.<ref name=wwf.panda>{{cite web|title=Tobacco Free Initiative: Environmental issues|url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/research/economics/rationale/environment/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041219191401/http://www.who.int/tobacco/research/economics/rationale/environment/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 19, 2004|author=World Health Organization}}</ref>

Furthermore, the wood used to cure tobacco in some places leads to deforestation. While some big tobacco producers such as China and the United States have access to petroleum, coal, and natural gas, which can be used as alternatives to wood, most developing countries still rely on wood in the curing process.<ref name="wwf.panda"/> Brazil alone uses the wood of 60 million trees per year for curing, packaging, and rolling cigarettes.<ref name="Taylor, Peter 1994"/>

In 2017 WHO released a study on the environmental effects of tobacco.<ref name="who env effects">{{Cite book |last=World Health Organization |url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/environmental-impact-overview/en/ |title=Tobacco and its Environmental Impact: An Overview |date=2017 |publisher=World Health Organization |isbn=978-92-4-151249-7 |oclc=988541317 |author-link=World Health Organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531164632/http://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/environmental-impact-overview/en/ |archive-date=May 31, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>