Thomas E Novotny

San Diego State University | SDSU · Graduate School of Public Health

Waterpipe tobacco wastes (WTWs) may contain considerable levels of hazardous contaminants such as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, and m/p-xylene). However, no research has been carried out on BTEX levels in WTWs and the release of these pollutants into the water environment. This research examined the levels of BTEX in WTWs of flavo...

Starting in the 1970s, individuals, businesses and the public have increasingly benefited from policies prohibiting smoking indoors, saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars in healthcare expenditures. Smokefree policies to protect against secondhand smoke exposure, however, do not fully protect the public from the persistent and toxic che...

The World No Tobacco Day 2022 theme emphasised tobacco’s adverse environmental effects, including through agriculture, manufacturing, distribution, use and the disposal of tobacco product waste. A main concern regarding this toxic waste is the cigarette filter, which is attached to nearly all commercial cigarettes and is predominantly made from a p...

Waterpipe is a common form of tobacco smoking, and recently, its use has been increasing globally. Therefore, concern arises regarding the large quantity of post-consumption waterpipe tobacco waste produced and released into the environment and which can contain high levels of dangerous pollutants such as toxic meta(loid)s. This study reports the c...

Post-consumption waterpipe tobacco waste (PWTW) is an unrecognized type of hazardous waste that is produced and released in large quantities into the aquatic environment. It may contain high amounts of various pollutants including PAH, and to date, there has been no research on the potential for contamination by PAH from PWTW leaching into aquatic...

Cigarette butts (CBs) are one of the most common, long-lasting, and toxic forms of marine and coastal area debris. Although the significance of CBs and the toxic contents of this waste items are well recognized, but there is still a lack of information about the effects of this waste on the aquatic organisms. Therefore in this study, the in-vivo to...

The LC 50 values of cigarette butts (CBs) leachates for the P. waltoni were evaluated. • Smoked CBs leachates with tobacco (SCB) were more toxic than other CBs leachates. • Significant difference among LC 50 values of leachates at different exposure times. • SCB leachate had higher heavy metals and PAHs levels than other CBs leachates. • All CBs le...

Smoking adversely affects tuberculosis (TB) outcomes and may be associated with depression and anxiety among people diagnosed with TB in Botswana. We conducted a cross-sectional study among patients newly diagnosed with TB in Gaborone, Botswana, evaluating factors associated with self-reported cigarette smoking. We performed Poisson regression anal...

Tobacco smoking continues to cause considerable premature mortality and morbidity worldwide. Most of the approximately six trillion cigarettes sold globally each year are discarded improperly as toxic environmental waste. Tobacco product waste, including cigarette butts, is the most commonly collected waste item worldwide. Of particular concern is...

Tobacco and cannabis product use can result in debris (a.k.a. litter) on the landscape, with implications to soil and water quality and thus potential impacts to ecosystems. More information is needed regarding how much debris exists on the landscape, such that the magnitude of potential associated environment problems can be quantified. Such infor...

While the impacts of cigarette smoking on human health are widely known, a less recognized impact of tobacco product use and disposal is environmental pollution. This review discusses the current literature related to cigarette and e-cigarette contamination in the context of environmental sources and impacts, with a focus on the documented influenc...

Background Behavioural research is needed to inform a ban on sales of filtered cigarettes that could reduce plastic waste due to discarded filters. This study reports on differences in perceptions, nicotine dependence and behaviour among participants in a cross-over randomised trial of filtered compared with unfiltered cigarettes. Method This proo...

Smoking topography (ST) is a set of measures profiling the behavioral characteristics of smoking in various settings. The CReSS portable device can measure ST in the natural environment. No standard protocol exists for measuring ST longitudinally with the CReSS. This study examined the utilization of the CReSS to measure ST and highlights challenge...

Background: Researchers have increasingly recognized the adverse effects of smoking on tuberculosis (TB) outcomes. Smoking may be a maladaptive coping mechanism for depression and anxiety among TB patients; however, this association has not yet been investigated. Design/Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among newly diagnosed TB patients...

Introduction Little is known on whether cigarette filter-related knowledge or beliefs are associated with support for policies to reduce their environmental impact. Methods A cross-sectional, population-based sample of US adults aged 18–64 years (n=2979) was used to evaluate filter-related knowledge and beliefs by smoking status using data collect...

Riding the global waves of decriminalization, medical or recreational use of cannabis (Cannabis sativa spp.) is now legal in more than 50 countries and U.S. states. As governments regulate this formerly illegal crop, there is an urgent need to understand how cannabis may impact the environment. Due to the challenges of researching quasi-legal commo...

Background Plastic filters on cigarette butts are a widespread source of nonbiodegradable, toxic environmental waste. State and local legislation to ban the sale of single-use cigarettes may be considered to prevent this waste, but scientific evidence on the impact of switching smokers to unfiltered cigarettes on smoking behavior and toxicant expos...

Introduction: Toxic tobacco smoke residue, also known as thirdhand smoke (THS), can persist in indoor environments long after tobacco has been smoked. This study examined the effects of different cleaning methods on nicotine in dust and on surfaces. Methods: Participants had strict indoor home smoking bans and were randomly assigned to: dry/damp...

Tobacco product waste (TPW) is one of the most ubiquitous forms of litter, accumulating in large amounts on streets, highways, sidewalks, beaches, parks, and other public places, and flowing into storm water drains, waste treatment plants, and solid waste collection facilities. In this paper, we evaluate the direct and indirect costs associated wit...

BACKGROUND Plastic filters on cigarette butts are a widespread source of nonbiodegradable, toxic environmental waste. State and local legislation to ban the sale of single-use cigarettes may be considered to prevent this waste, but scientific evidence on the impact of switching smokers to unfiltered cigarettes on smoking behavior and toxicant expos...

Secondhand smoke (SHS) is a common indoor pollutant in multiunit housing (MUH). It is also the precursor of thirdhand smoke (THS), the toxic mixture of tobacco smoke residue that accumulates in indoor environments where tobacco has been used. This study examined the levels, distribution, and factors associated with THS pollution in low-income MUH....

Background: Plastic filters on cigarette butts are a widespread source of non-biodegradable, toxic environmental waste. State and local legislation to ban the sale of single-use cigarettes may be considered to prevent this waste, but scientific evidence on the impact of switching smokers to unfiltered cigarettes on smoking behavior and toxicant exp...

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) have been widely referred to as "safer," "healthier," and more "effective" smoking cessation aids, but little evidence supports such claims. New concerns about pulmonary injuries associated with ENDS suggest reasons for concern about these products' health risks and potential for nicotine addiction. Never...

Smoked cigarettes are the most prevalent form of litter worldwide, often finding their way into oceans and inland waterways. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 individual chemicals, many of them carcinogenic or otherwise toxic. We examined the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity,aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), estrogen receptor (ER), and p53 response...

Cigarette butts, whuch are also known as tobacco product waste (TPW), are the single most collected item in environmental trash cleanups worldwide. This study used an online survey tool (Qualtrics) to assess knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding this issue among individuals representing the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA). The FCA has...

Cigarette butts, also known as tobacco product waste (TPW), are the single most collected item in environmental trash cleanups worldwide. This study used an online survey tool (Qualtrics) to assess knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions about this issue among individuals representing the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA). The FCA has about 683 mem...

Background and challenges to implementation Although efforts have been made to eliminate the use of misleading descriptors such as "low-tar", "lights" and "mild" from cigarette marketing, the elimination of the cellulose acetate filter-which is on 95% of cigarettes and which does not confer any reduced health risks to smokers--has been largely over...

Background Global health diplomacy (GHD) is a burgeoning field bridging the priorities of global health and foreign affairs. Given the increasing need to mobilize disparate global health stakeholders coupled with the need to design complex public health partnerships to tackle issues of international concern, effective and timely cooperation among s...

Resumo O objetivo foi avaliar a existência de uma associação entre o fato de ver um ator fumando em telenovela brasileira, filme brasileiro ou filme internacional e as tentativas de parar de fumar e abstinência entre fumantes adultos brasileiros. Foram utilizados os dados de 39.425 participantes da versão brasileira do Global Adult Tobacco Survey....

Objectives This study sought to determine the possibility of interactions between coronary artery calcium (CAC) volume or CAC density with each other, and with age, sex, ethnicity, the new atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score, diabetes status, and renal function by estimated glomerular filtration rate, and, using differing CAC...

This research identifies and maps core competencies that can be used to address this gap in the training of professionals in the fields of foreign affairs and global public health. We conducted focused internet searches to identify two core competency models in foreign affairs and six competency models in global public health. Employing domain word...

Background Deforestation due to tobacco farming began to raise concerns in the mid 1970s. Over the next 40 years, tobacco growing increased significantly and shifted markedly to low- and middle-income countries. The percentage of deforestation caused by tobacco farming reached 4 % globally by the early 2000s, although substantially higher in countr...

Cigarette butts and other postconsumer products from tobacco use are the most common waste elements picked up worldwide each year during environmental cleanups. Under the environmental principle of Extended Producer Responsibility, tobacco product manufacturers may be held responsible for collection, transport, processing and safe disposal of tobac...

Global Health Diplomacy (GHD) is a burgeoning field that bridges independent priorities in both global health and foreign affairs. Given the increasing need to mobilize the global community to respond to Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC) such as Ebola or Zika, as well as forge new and expand existing collaborations to tackl...

The health consequences of tobacco use are well known, but less recognized are the significant environmental impacts of tobacco production and use. The environmental impacts of tobacco include tobacco growing and curing; product manufacturing and distribution; product consumption; and post-consumption waste. The World Health Organization’s Framewor...

This paper reviews several environmental principles, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Product Stewardship (PS), the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP), and the Precautionary Principle, as they may apply to tobacco product waste (TPW). The review addresses specific criteria that apply in deciding whether a particular toxic product should...

Cigarette butts (tobacco product waste (TPW)) are the single most collected item in environmental trash cleanups worldwide. This brief descriptive study used an online survey tool (Survey Monkey) to assess knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among individuals representing the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) about this issue. The FCA has about 350...

Reflecting on World No Tobacco Day 2015, Tom Novotny assesses the tobacco control landscape and considers how a tobacco endgame could be a reality.

One of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is to reduce the global proportion of people who do not have access to safe drinking water. In the past, the typical strategy to reach this goal has been the use of investment-intensive centralized infrastructure development for water supplies. However, there is increasing evidence suggesting t...

Objective Determine the association between perceived peer substance use and personal substance use among U.S. college-attending adults, ages 18-24. Methods Using data from the National College Health Assessment Survey II (2009), descriptive and multivariate regression analyses were performed to assess the association between perceived ‘typica...

Cigarette butts and other tobacco product wastes (TPW) are the most common items picked up in urban and beach cleanups worldwide. TPW contains all the toxins, nicotine, and carcinogens found in tobacco products, along with the plastic nonbiodegradable filter attached to almost all cigarettes sold in the United States and in most countries worldwide...

As the world has become more interconnected, the need for coordinated responses to shared global public health threats has increased. A small but growing cadre of diplomats known as health attachés is key among the practitioners of global health diplomacy (GHD) who employ the tools of diplomacy and statecraft to bridge governments’ public health an...

Cigarette filters are a hazard to public health and the environment and should be banned, argues Thomas Novotny

Few studies assessing the relationship between active and passive smoking and tuberculosis have used biomarkers to measure smoke exposure. We sought to determine the association between active and passive smoking and LTBI in a representative sample of US adults and children. We used the 1999-2000 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey...

Despite the historically low smoking prevalence among Chinese women, there is a trend of future increase. We systematically reviewed the correlates of smoking among Chinese girls and women. We conducted a systematic review of literature on correlates of smoking among Chinese women using Medline and China Academic Journals databases. Following the P...

Global health diplomacy is a political activity that meets the dual goals of improving health while strengthening relations among nations. For the United States, Health Attachs assigned to embassies abroad are group of professionals who have supported the improvement of global health policy for decades. Health Attachs collect, analyze, and act on i...

Background: Liberalization of trade of tobacco, processed foods, and alcohol is an important factor in the growing burden of global non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which case 2 in 3 deaths worldwide. Efforts to prevent and control NCDs therefore have implications for trade and health as well as for national security. The UN has proposed the estab...

Background: Cigarette smoking and tuberculosis are major global health concerns, and smoking has been shown to increase the risk for active tuberculosis disease. Cigarette smoking might also increase the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, but few studies on this topic have used biochemical assays to determine smoking status. We d...

SETTING: Tijuana, Mexico. OBJECTIVE: To describe the association between salivary cotinine levels and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release assay results. DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional study among injection drug users. Salivary cotinine levels were measured using NicAlert, a semi-quantitative dipstick assay. QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GI...

Injection drug use and cigarette smoking are major global health concerns. Limited data exist regarding cigarette smoking behavior and quit attempts among injection drug users (IDUs) in low- and middle-income countries to inform the development of cigarette smoking interventions. We conducted a cross-sectional study to describe cigarette smoking be...

Handheld computers for data collection (HCDC) and management have become increasingly common in health research. However, current knowledge about the use of HCDC in health research in China is very limited. In this study, we administered a survey to a hard-to-reach population in China using HCDC and assessed the acceptability and adoption of HCDC i...

Thomas Novotny reflects on new research by Stanton Glantz and colleagues and the implications of their findings for engaging the tobacco industry on tobacco product regulation.

Numerous national governments have recently adopted packaging and labeling legislation to curb global tobacco uptake. This coincides with the World Health Organization’s 2011 World No Tobacco Day, which recognized the extraordinary progress of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The tobacco industry has presented legal challenges to...

We analyzed data from a longitudinal cohort study of persons who inject drugs (PWID) in Tijuana, Mexico, to explore whether cigarette smoking increases the risk of interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) conversion. PWID were recruited using respondent driven sampling (RDS). QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT) assay conversion was defined as interferon...

Global health governance is widely considered fragmented after more than a decade of inconsistent support for multi-lateral organizations and faced with the emergence of many new global health donors and non-state enterprises. This paper addresses a series of events marked by enactment of the Helms-Biden agreement in 1999. This legislation ensured...

A pilot feasibility study was conducted to determine whether Directly Observed Therapy Short-Course (DOTS) workers could be trained to deliver smoking cessation counseling and referral interventions, identify potential barriers to a full-scale randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of integrated smoking cessation in DOTS, and determine wh...

A pilot feasibility study was conducted to determine whether Directly Observed Therapy Short-Course (DOTS) workers could be trained to deliver smoking cessation counseling and referral interventions, identify potential barriers to a full-scale randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of integrated smoking cessation in DOTS, and determine wh...

Tobacco waste in the form of cigarette butts can be found in environments such as storm drains, waterways, beaches, rivers, streets, and both rural and urban neighborhoods. The problem is quickly gaining the attention of diverse communities and organizations that have vested health and/or financial interest in reducing the negative impact of tobacc...

Recently, Australia passed cigarette plain packaging legislation marking a new path forward in tobacco control. This coincides with the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2011 World No Tobacco Day, which recognized the extraordinary progress made by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2003. Thou...

Background: Cigarette smoking and tuberculosis are major global health concerns, and cigarette smoking increases the risk of active tuberculosis disease. However, it is unknown whether a causal relationship exists between cigarette smoking and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. We analyzed data from a longitudinal cohort study of injecti...