The billions of cigarette butts discarded by Italians every year ought to be treated as toxic waste, a new study by the National Institute of Technology (ENEA) concluded Thursday. ''Cigarette butts present health risks that have never received serious consideration before now,'' said a researcher for the institute, Carmine Ciro Lombardi. According to Lombardi, cigarette butts contain hundreds of carcinogenic and even radioactive chemicals which, taken together, add up to tonnes and tonnes of toxic waste.

ENEA estimates that Italian smokers toss out over 195 million cigarette butts every day and over 72 billion every year. The result showers the country with an estimated 324 billion tonnes of nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes, which is highly poisonous in concentrated amounts making it a popular ingredient in insecticides. Scientists estimate that it would only take around 70 milligrams of concentrated nicotine to kill an average adult. The nation's ash trays also produce large quantities of a radioactive element called Polonium 210 known to be some 250,000 times more toxic than cyanide gas.

Over 21.6 tonnes of assorted toxic gases such as ammonia and 1.4 tonnes of condensed tar are other poisons released into the environment every year by cigarette butts in Italy. Smokers' litter is also the most common kind found in the Mediterranean Sea, where it accounts for 40% of all marine trash, compared to plastic bottles (9%) and plastic bags (8%).

Researchers said they did not count the air pollutants released into the atmosphere by cigarette smoke or any of the toxins contained in the over 3.6 tonnes of cigarette ash produced every year. ENEA said its finding supported a movement to put the same kinds of restrictions on disposing cigarette butts as the ones currently in place for used batteries and home appliances. Cities around Italy have begun installing special cigarette bins in addition to stiff fines of up to 500 euros for smokers who toss their butts onto the street.

The Italian health ministry estimates that smoking kills as many as 80,000 every year, a figure released last February as the ministry introduced a 1.5-million-euro plan to help Italians kick the habit. The ministry added that smoking as been on the decline in Italy since a 2005 law which banned smokers from lighting up in enclosed public spaces like bars, offices and restaurants. There are an estimated 12 million smokers in Italy and around 1.2 million are between 15 and 24 years of age. Of these, some 130,000 are under 17.