Chemical contents and toxicity of cigarette butts leachates in aquatic environment: A case study from the Persian Gulf region

Waterborne Toxicity to Neotropical Invertebrates and Hazard of Cigarette Butt Leachates in Marine Environments

“…For marine fish, lethal effects were reported in the silverside Atherinops affinis exposed to leachates prepared with nonsmoked tobacco filters (LC50 of 5.1 CB/L), smoked tobacco‐free filters (LC50 of 1.8 CB/L), and tobacco smoked filters (LC50 of 1.1 CB/L; Slaughter et al, 2011). For the mudskipper Periophthalmus waltoni , acute toxicity was observed for leachates of smoked CBs with tobacco (LC50 of 1.36 CB/L), smoked filters without tobacco (LC50 of 2.9 CB/L), and unsmoked filters (LC50 of 7.46 CB/L; Soleimani et al, 2023).…”

“…The solid phase of CBs exhibited 0.39 mg/kg (11 compounds) of total PAHs, with a potential load estimated at 0.032 mg/kg/month (Moriwaki et al, 2009). Soleimani et al (2023), analyzing a set of compounds similar to the one in the present study, prepared leachates in natural seawater using 4 CB/L and found lower concentrations for ∑PAHs (85.61 ng/L) compared with our study (161.2 ng/L), but the same PAHs were detected (naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, and phenanthrene). In contrast, in leachates prepared using artificial seawater with 25 and 100 CB/L, 20 PAHs were observed at total concentrations ranging from 216 to 515 ng/L, respectively, with the highest levels found for 2-methyl naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene, and pyrene (Lucia et al, 2023).…”

“…Tobacco consumption dates from the early 19th century, and at the end of the 20th century, cigarettes emerged as a tobacco smoking method worldwide owing to their low cost and nicotine absorption efficiency (Kurmus & Mohajerani, 2020). Approximately 75% of smokers reported discarding their cigarette butts (CBs) directly into the environment; annually, 6 trillion cigarettes are smoked and approximately 4.5 trillion cigarettes are discarded, which corresponds to more than 1 million tons of polymeric waste release, because filters are composed of cellulose acetate fibers (Araújo & Costa, 2019a;Barnes, 2011;Green et al, 2022Green et al, , 2023Kurmus & Mohajerani, 2020;Soleimani et al, 2023). Discarded CBs can be washed into storm drains, reach rivers, and eventually be washed out to the sea, although in coastal areas direct littering is the main route of CB waste to marine environments.…”

“…Moriwaki et al (2009) reported the release of toxic metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) from CBs in an aqueous solution. Other groups of chemicals released at high concentrations include aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), carbonyls, nitrosamines, phenols, and insecticides (Lucia et al, 2023; Soleimani et al, 2023; Torkashvand et al, 2020). Therefore, CB leachates are a complex mixture of substances that should be addressed as emerging contaminants originating from an unhealthy lifestyle, with no benefit and high cost for clean‐up (Green et al, 2023).…”

“…Studies evaluating CB toxicity in marine organisms are still scarce, although there is increasing interest in this topic, considering human population growth and occupation in the coastal zone and the ultimate destination of these residues into the sea (Araújo & Costa, 2019a). Ecotoxicological data on CB leachates have been produced using marine bacteria, algae, oyster embryos (Lucia et al, 2023), gastropods (Booth et al, 2015), polychaete worms (Wright et al, 2015), brine shrimp (Abessa et al, 2021), copepods (Lima et al, 2021), and fish (Slaughter et al, 2011; Soleimani et al, 2023). These studies have focused on apical responses (endpoints measured at the organism level), estimating the median effect (EC50) and lethal concentrations (LC50), both of which are related to the concentration of a substance in an environmental matrix expected to produce effects in 50% of the test organisms in a given exposure.…”