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• Cigarette butts toxic to fish, say researchers 

Cigarette butts are toxic to fish and should be labeled as toxic hazardous waste, U.S. researchers say.

Scientists at San Diego State University say that a single cigarette butt containing a small amount of unburnt tobacco is enough to contaminate a litre of water and kill half of the fish swimming in it.

"Based on this new research, we believe that cigarettes should be considered toxic waste and new requirements need to be established for how they are disposed," Tom Novotny, a public health professor at San Diego State University, said in a statement.

The researchers tested the toxicity of the tobacco on fresh and saltwater fish: fathead minnows and top smelt — two species that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency typically uses in pollution studies.

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