Turning cigarette butt waste into an alternative control tool against an insecticide-resistant mosquito vector

We showed that DCB waste can be turned into a control strategy against Aedes aegypti and this may reduce control costs and DCB incidence in the environment. •The introduction of discarded cigarette butt (CB) in container habitats of Aedes aegypti prevented most young larvae from completing development.•In the presence of an increased CB amount (3 per 100mL of water), larval mortality was high even for the late developmental stages.•Turning CB waste into a control tool against dengue vectors is suggested. Annually, 4.5 trillion cigarette butts (CBs) are flicked into our environment. Evidence exists that CB waste is deadly to aquatic life, but their lethality to the aquatic life of the main dengue vector is unknown. CBs are full of toxicants that occur naturally, during planting and manufacturing, which may act as larvicidal agents. We assessed Aedes aegypti vulnerability to Marlboro butts during its development. Overall, CBs showed insecticidal activities against larvae. At early phases of development, mortality rates were much higher in two CBs solution (2CBSol) and 3CBSol microcosms (MICRs). Larval survival gradually decreased with development in 1CBSol-MICRs. However, in great presence of CBs, mortality was high even for the late developmental stages. These results suggest that A. aegypti larvae are vulnerable to CB presence in their habitats, but this effect was seen most during the early developmental phases and in the presence of increased amounts of cigarette remnants. CB filters are being used as raw material in many sectors, i.e., brick, art, fashion, plastic industries, as a practical solution to the pollution problem, the observed butt waste toxicity to mosquito larvae open new avenues for the identification of novel insecticide products.