Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms

Marine debris is a global environmental issue. Smoked cigarette filters are the predominant coastal litter item; 4.5 trillion are littered annually, presenting a source of bioplastic microfibres (cellulose acetate) and harmful toxicants to marine environments. Despite the human health risks associat...

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Main Authors:	Wright, Stephanie L., Rowe, Darren, Reid, Malcolm J., Thomas, Kevin V., Galloway, Tamara S.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4569891/

id	pubmed-4569891
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-45698912015-09-28 Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms Wright, Stephanie L. Rowe, Darren Reid, Malcolm J. Thomas, Kevin V. Galloway, Tamara S. Article Marine debris is a global environmental issue. Smoked cigarette filters are the predominant coastal litter item; 4.5 trillion are littered annually, presenting a source of bioplastic microfibres (cellulose acetate) and harmful toxicants to marine environments. Despite the human health risks associated with smoking, little is known of the hazards cigarette filters present to marine life. Here we studied the impacts of smoked cigarette filter toxicants and microfibres on the polychaete worm Hediste diversicolor (ragworm), a widespread inhabitant of coastal sediments. Ragworms exposed to smoked cigarette filter toxicants in seawater at concentrations 60 fold lower than those reported for urban run-off exhibited significantly longer burrowing times, >30% weight loss, and >2-fold increase in DNA damage compared to ragworms maintained in control conditions. In contrast, ragworms exposed to smoked cigarette filter microfibres in marine sediment showed no significant effects. Bioconcentration factors for nicotine were 500 fold higher from seawater than from sediment. Our results illustrate the vulnerability of organisms in the water column to smoking debris and associated toxicants, and highlight the risks posed by smoked cigarette filter debris to aquatic life. Nature Publishing Group 2015-09-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4569891/ /pubmed/26369692 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep14119 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Wright, Stephanie L. Rowe, Darren Reid, Malcolm J. Thomas, Kevin V. Galloway, Tamara S.
spellingShingle	Wright, Stephanie L. Rowe, Darren Reid, Malcolm J. Thomas, Kevin V. Galloway, Tamara S. Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms
author_facet	Wright, Stephanie L. Rowe, Darren Reid, Malcolm J. Thomas, Kevin V. Galloway, Tamara S.
author_sort	Wright, Stephanie L.
title	Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms
title_short	Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms
title_full	Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms
title_fullStr	Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms
title_full_unstemmed	Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms
title_sort	bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms
description	Marine debris is a global environmental issue. Smoked cigarette filters are the predominant coastal litter item; 4.5 trillion are littered annually, presenting a source of bioplastic microfibres (cellulose acetate) and harmful toxicants to marine environments. Despite the human health risks associated with smoking, little is known of the hazards cigarette filters present to marine life. Here we studied the impacts of smoked cigarette filter toxicants and microfibres on the polychaete worm Hediste diversicolor (ragworm), a widespread inhabitant of coastal sediments. Ragworms exposed to smoked cigarette filter toxicants in seawater at concentrations 60 fold lower than those reported for urban run-off exhibited significantly longer burrowing times, >30% weight loss, and >2-fold increase in DNA damage compared to ragworms maintained in control conditions. In contrast, ragworms exposed to smoked cigarette filter microfibres in marine sediment showed no significant effects. Bioconcentration factors for nicotine were 500 fold higher from seawater than from sediment. Our results illustrate the vulnerability of organisms in the water column to smoking debris and associated toxicants, and highlight the risks posed by smoked cigarette filter debris to aquatic life.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4569891/
_version_	1613475804978610176

Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms

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