SAN DIEGO - Chemicals in cigarette butts can leach into the environment and harm marine life, according to research released Friday by San Diego State University.
Richard Gersberg, a SDSU public health researcher, found that the chemicals from one filtered cigarette butt could kill fish living in a 1-liter bucket of water.
Gersberg tested both smoked and un-smoked cigarette butts with similar fish kill results, according to the university.
"The most important finding in this research is that it seems to be the filter, or rather what's in the leftover filter, that is most dangerous to our water," Gersberg said.
The research was used by a Cigarette Butt Advisory Group to call on the government to designate cigarette butts as hazardous waste.
