Toxicity of cigarette butts, and their chemical components, to marine and freshwater fish

Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter in the world. Approximately 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year worldwide (cigarettelitter.org) and cigarette litter constitutes an estimate of 30% of total waste in U.S. shorelines, waterways, and on land (Keep America Beautiful). Due to the magnitude of cigarette butt discharge into the environment, studies are needed to analyze whether littered cigarette butts exert ecotoxic effects when they enter aquatic environments.To date, no aquatic toxicity testing on cigarette butts (or their leahcates) have been done with marine or freshwater fish. Since fish are an ecologically important organism, and often used as a bioindicator of ecological quality, it is important that the toxicity of cigarette butt leachate be analyzed on fish in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of cigarette litter on both marine and freshwater ecosystems. This report describes studies using standard fish aquatic bioassay tests (96 hour acute) developed by the U.S. EPA to measure the toxicity of cigarette butt leachates (from smoked filters with and without tobacco and unsmoked filters) to the marine fish, Atherinops affinis, and to the freshwater fish Pimphales promela. It also will determine the concentration at which cigarette butts become toxic to these species so that a preliminary ecological risk assessment can be presented.