facts

We’re not going to lecture anyone about black lungs, smoker’s coughs, or diseases that you can’t pronounce and we can’t spell. Everyone has already heard all that.

But we do believe that the art and music scene would be better tobacco-free because Big Tobacco harms more than just the people who decide to smoke. Big Tobacco’s practices harm the environment, contribute to world hunger, test on animals and worst of all, targets us in the creative environment we thrive in. Commune isn’t against the smoker, we’re against the tobacco industry and ask our friends to boycott their products. Join us in supporting local and taking a stand against Big Tobacco.

 
 
 

FACT: The tobacco industry uses its revenues to test tobacco products on dogs, rabbits, mice and monkeys. In one study, monkeys were killed to examine the effect of nicotine on their brains

 
 

FACT: The tobacco industry has conducted experiments on animals for decades. In some experiments, beagles we strapped down and fitted with facemasks, which forced them to inhale smoke from lit cigarettes.

 
 

FACT: Problems with self-esteem. Has menial, boring job. Emotionally insecure. Passive-aggressive. Probably leads fairly dull existence. Grooming not a strong priority. Lacks inner resources. Group conformist. Non-thinking. Not into ideas. Insecure follower. These are all terms taken from Big Tobacco's files that have been used to describe different groups of potential customers for their deadly, addictive products.

 
 

FACT: The tobacco industry adds chemicals like the ones listed below to make cigarettes more addictive, easier to smoke, and better tasting. A puff of cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals.

Toluene (found in paint thinners) / Formaldehyde (used to preserve dead bodies) /Benzene (found in gasoline) / Hydrazine (found in rocket fuel) / Cadmium (found in batteries) / Methanol (found in antifreeze) / Urea (found in urine) /Ammonia (found in cleaning supplies)
 
 

FACT: Up to 5.7lbs of wood is used to make one pack of cigarettes. This doesn’t even include the paper or the packaging. Also, each year, 20,000 hectares (49,400 acres) of forest are cleared to cure tobacco.

 
 

FACT: 4.5 Trillion cigarette butts are thrown on the ground or in bodies of water each year. There are 7 billion people in the world. That means that every person in the world would need to pick up 642 cigarette butts a year in order to rid the earth of cigarette litter.

 
 

FACT: In 2013, 595,238 pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the air by tobacco product manufacturing facilities in the U.S.

 
 

FACT: When cigarette butts are littered in water, chemicals seep out of them that are toxic to aquatic life.

 
 

FACT: More than 60% of tobacco-growing land is located in low-income countries where tobacco is cultivated as a cash crop for export. These countries are too poor to import food, so the tobacco crops prevent them from properly feeding their citizens. 10-20 million people could be fed if all tobacco crops were replaced with food crops.