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Staff Photo by Matt Fields-Johnson Daniel Burris, a fifth-year senior and research assistant at UTC, is studying the effects of chemicals leached from cigarette butts into water. Mr. Burriss is looking for organic compounds and other team members have found high levels of lead and cadmium that are harmful to the evironment.
Some UTC researchers are putting cigarettes under the microscope in a study that could make smokers think twice about tossing their butts.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga study, intended to uncover the effects of discarded cigarette butts on the environment, shows that the metals and organic chemicals found in used cigarettes can leak out, contaminating water and killing microorganisms.
"We certainly have no trouble getting samples," said Gretchen Potts, an associate professor of chemistry at UTC who started the research. "It's pretty sad."
More than 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are tossed in the United States every year, Dr. Potts said. One cigarette won't contaminate the environment, but over time, trillions of discarded cigarettes could cause problems for microorganisms, she said.
According to tobacco companies, the remnants of used cigarettes, leftover tobacco and the filter are biodegradable. However, they can last up to 18 months in the environment, giving plenty of time for chemicals to leak out, Dr. Potts said.
"No one has ever looked at what comes out of littered cigarettes," she said.
Student researchers have been collecting discarded cigarette butts from around Chattanooga and the UTC campus and letting them sit in bottles of water to see what elements leak out.
PDF: Guidelines for drinking-water quality third edition incorporating first and second addenda
PDF: Drinking Water Contaminants
WHAT IS LITTER?
Litter is defined by Tennessee law as perishable animal and vegetable waste, garbage, perishable and nonperishable solid waste and tobacco products.
Smoking research shows effects of cigarette butts
In the study, lead and cadmium -- toxic chemicals found in batteries -- leaked into the water. The water in the study exceeded Environmental Protection Agency-approved levels of lead in drinking water, said Daniel Burriss, a UTC senior helping conduct the research.
Mr. Burriss said he now is researching the effects of organic chemicals such as nicotine on the environment.
"I am surprised by what I am learning, but I haven't found anything too bad," said Mr. Burriss, a smoker.
Cigarette butt litter is illegal in Tennessee and punishable by a $50 fine, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Still, only half of smokers properly dispose of their cigarette butts by extinguishing them in an ash tray or throwing the butts in a trash can, according to the transportation department. Twenty percent of smokers said they frequently toss butts out of their car windows, TDOT found.
"People think about cigarette butts as being so tiny," Dr. Potts said. "They don't really think about it."
Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007. Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama. Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she ...
Let's see if we can put that at the top of the heap for the big problems in this world that need to be solved immediately lest the planet is destroyed.
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