Determination of the acute toxicity of cigarette butt leachate in marine environment

Abstract

Even since cigarette consumption has become a popular practice, but it loaded a wide amount of litter and also produce health problems to people and the environment. Abandoned cigarette butts release different hazardous and carcinogenic chemicals after introducing in the aquatic environment by forming leachate and the pathway of these chemicals is complex, diverse, and still unknown. In the present study, two common species Paracentrotus lividus and Sparus aurata were used to investigate the toxicity impact on their early life cycle after exposure through smoked filtered cigarette butt leachate. Three different brands including regular commercial cigarettes and hand-rolling cigarette were artificially smoked and soaked in the seawater for 7 days to preparing the leachate. The concentration of different metals (As, Al, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Fe, and Mn), Nicotine, and PAHs were determined from prepared cigarette butt leachate. Three different endpoint fertilization, embryo larval development assay, and survival assay were performed in standard conditions for P. lividus and S. aurata, respectively. The findings revealed nicotine concentration was similar for different brands, but it was three hundred times higher comparing control seawater concentration. The results of the bioassay exhibit brand to brand variation and a dose-response relationship between the concentration dilution and the biological response at p<0.01 level. The significant change was observed from the lower concentration to higher concentration at p<0.05 level for all three brands. Among the toxicity assay, the larval development of P. lividus revealed more sensitivity than others. The embryo larval development interrupted from lower concentration (0.32 to 1.3 butt/L) of leachate dilution and the process of development blocked after exposure to higher concentrations (5.12 to 16 butt/L).