Antidepressants found in fish brains in Great Lakes region
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Holy mackerel — those are perky perch.
Researchers have found concentrations of human antidepressants in 10 kinds of fish in the Niagara River, which links Lake Erie with Lake Ontario.
Active ingredients in Zoloft, Prozac and other happy-pills were discovered to be built up in the brains of smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, rudd, rock bass, white bass, white perch, walleye, bowfin, steelhead and yellow perch. The source of the contamination: wastewater.
“These active ingredients from antidepressants, which are coming out from wastewater treatment plants, are accumulating in fish brains,” Diana Aga, Ph.D, a professor at the University of Buffalo, said in a release.
The situation is, well, fishy. “It is a threat to biodiversity, and we should be very concerned,” Aga added.
And for a few reasons, including that treatment plants are not keeping up with the times and the pace of today’s antidepressant use. The authors note that the percentage of Americans taking antidepressants, for instance, rose 65 percent between 1999-2002 and 2011-14, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Another concern is that the drugged-out fish’s behavior could change. “Other research teams have shown that antidepressants can affect the feeding behavior of fish or their survival instinct,” said Aga.
While scientists note that the levels of antidepressants in the fish don’t pose a danger to people who eat them, they said more research is needed to understand what amount of antidepressants poses a risk to animals, as well as the impact of drug interactions.
The study was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
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