4 One of the reasons for tobacco's high uptake of soil nutrients is the practice of topping the plants to stimulate leaf growth and ensure a higher nicotine content. 4 Nutrient depletion hastens the erosion of the soil, especially where tobacco is grown on hilly land, as it often is in Malawi, Sri Lanka, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Once soil fertility is lost, tobacco companies may simply move on to new growing areas. Yet once a farmer commits to tobacco, it is hard to diversify. The result is monoculture.
Farmers become dependent on tobacco - even to eat.
In the United States, the tobacco industry ranks 18 th among all industries in the production of chemical waste. Among the many waste products of the tobacco industry which are considered toxic by the USA's Environmental Protection Agency, is nicotine, from the production of low-nicotine cigarettes. Around 300 million kilogrammes of nicotine waste are produced annually by the global tobacco industry. Tobacco smoke contains about 4,000 chemicals, some cancer causing. Cigarette smoke also contains polonium 210, a radioactive element.