Sunday, May 10, 2009

Cigarette butts toxic to fish

I'm quite the reasonable guy, but not when it comes to cigarette butts. Now I have even more reason to hate cigarette butts...they're toxic to fish.

A new study found that the chemicals in just one cigarette butt can kill fish living in one liter of water (about a quart). Yuck.

Cigarette butts are the number one litter item hauled off of beaches in Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup. That's right, there are more cigarette butts than anything else. Why? Many smokers don't seem to think of their butts as litter, even though they're toxic and they don't decompose. They're small, they're common, it's trouble to deal with them, so they just don't count as litter.

Well, that needs to change. And the picture at the top right is part of a fun campaign to keep cigarette butts off the beach, let's hope it helps.

3 comments:

Felicia said...

Great post!

It always bothers me when I see a smoker who does not wash their hands before putting their hands in their aquariums.

Amanda Strongfellow said...

This is a wonderful informative website and I applaud your efforts and all the important hard work you're doing. It gives me hope! I created a blog about the same critical issue and I'm doing what I can to raise awareness on this critical vital issue from my own personal experience. The blog discusses everything related to big tobacco, non-smokers' rights, and all the health dangers related to smoking and having to breathe secondhand smoke and secondhand smoker's breath. I invite you to please take a few moments to take a look and share it with those you love and care about and help them quit the nasty ugly habit. http://smokenscreens.blogspot.com

Thank you

Anonymous said...

Smokers....what more can be said. Just look at the ground outside any public building and you will see the legacy they selfishly leave behind. I guess we expect far to much of them to have the decency to dispose of their own putrid butts.

There really is no need for an environmental issue except for the selfishness of a few smokers.