Abstract
The tobacco industry is one of the biggest industries in the world. Large quantities of wastewater are generated during processing and cigarette-making which may be toxic to the environment and public health. In this study, the potential genotoxicity of tobacco wastewater was evaluated using mice bone marrow micronucleus and sperm morphology assays. The wastewater was considered at concentrations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100% (v/v, wastewater/distilled water). There was concentration-dependent induction of micronucleated erythrocytes at all tested concentrations, with significant (p<0.05) induction at 25, 50, 75 and 100% concentrations compared to the negative control. Assessment of sperm shape showed a significant increase in sperm abnormalities with significant decrease in mean sperm count in treated groups. Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni and Co analysed in the wastewater contributed significantly to these observations. This shows that tobacco wastewater constituents are capable of inducing somatic and germ cell mutations.
