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The world's waterways are contaminated with our chemicals. But a steady diet of Prozac is not making fish any happier(from "Chemical Month" on 13.7 Billion Years)
From cortisone to testosterone to Triclosan (an unnecessary, environmentally harmful ingredient in antibacterial soap that has been found in the blood of wild dolphins), the world's waterways have become our pharmaceutical dumping ground. And wildlife is suffering from ingesting these chemicals.
A U.K. study last year found that shrimp exposed to the antidepressant Prozac are "five times more likely to swim toward the light instead of away from it -- making them more likely to be eaten by fish or birds, which could have devastating effects on the shrimp population," according to an AlphaGalileo.org press release.
And now, a new Canadian study has found that antidepressants "accumulate in fish tissues and are affecting the fish's brain activity."
In 2007, the FDA worked with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to develop the first consumer guidance for proper disposal of prescription drugs. Among other specifics, the FDA recommends that medications be mixed with undesirable trash, like coffee grounds (to make them unappealing to pets and wild animals), put in sealable plastic bags and then thrown in the garbage. Some communities also have take-back programs.
Most importantly, medications should not be flushed down the toilet. Doing that sends the chemicals directly into the public waterways -- and into the bodies of marine life, though drug residues will still end up there by passing through our own bodies and into the wastewater. Ultimately, the more pharmaceuticals we take, the more chemical residue ends up polluting the natural environment.
"Montreal has a very basic sewage system -- the city basically only removes solids, there's no disinfecting of the water," said Dr. Sébastien Sauvé of the University of Montreal's Department of Chemistry.
"The chemical structure of antidepressants makes them extremely difficult to remove from sewage, even with the most sophisticated systems available...we are seeing an impact on the river's ecosystem, which should concern cities everywhere."
Marine life living in Montreal's waterways should be particularly concerned -- one in four Montrealers take some kind of antidepressant.
