Drug residue in rivers is significantly changing fish behaviour, making them bolder, more aggressive and anti-social.
When medications are taken, they are excreted from the body and flow
(via the sewer) to a water treatment plant. Treatment plants are not
designed to test and break down these chemicals, however, and so they
end up in bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. The organisms living in these areas become surrounded by traces of our drugs.
This new study looked at the effects of oxazepam, one of a group of
anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines. The team (of Umeå University,
Sweden) found that European Perch exposed to similar levels of oxazepam
as they would experience in their natural environment changed their
behaviour drastically. They were less afraid to venture into new areas,
generally swam away from other perch and were quicker to eat zooplankton
(their usual food).
This result shows how our drugs could
severely change ecosystems. Leaving its school is a risky move for perch
as they're more likely to be targeted by a predator. In addition perch
eat zooplankton, which eat algae - if the perch deplete zooplankton
populations too much, algae populations soar. The balance of the
ecosystem could be greatly disrupted.
Oxazepam is not the first
drug shown to alter fish behaviour. Other example include Prozac (which
reduces fathead minnow reaction times) and ibuprofen, which decreases
courtship behaviour in zebrafish. The team say the solution is not to
stop ill people taking medication, but to improve treatment plants and
so prevent contamination of water systems. More research is also
important, both with our current drugs and identifying possible damage
of a potential drug.
Photo credit: Biopix/JC Schou.
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.rsc.org/
http://phys.org/news/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
Drug residue in rivers is significantly changing fish behaviour, making them bolder, more aggressive and anti-social.
When medications are taken, they are excreted from the body and flow (via the sewer) to a water treatment plant. Treatment plants are not designed to test and break down these chemicals, however, and so they end up in bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. The organisms living in these areas become surrounded by traces of our drugs.
This new study looked at the effects of oxazepam, one of a group of anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines. The team (of Umeå University, Sweden) found that European Perch exposed to similar levels of oxazepam as they would experience in their natural environment changed their behaviour drastically. They were less afraid to venture into new areas, generally swam away from other perch and were quicker to eat zooplankton (their usual food).
This result shows how our drugs could severely change ecosystems. Leaving its school is a risky move for perch as they're more likely to be targeted by a predator. In addition perch eat zooplankton, which eat algae - if the perch deplete zooplankton populations too much, algae populations soar. The balance of the ecosystem could be greatly disrupted.
Oxazepam is not the first drug shown to alter fish behaviour. Other example include Prozac (which reduces fathead minnow reaction times) and ibuprofen, which decreases courtship behaviour in zebrafish. The team say the solution is not to stop ill people taking medication, but to improve treatment plants and so prevent contamination of water systems. More research is also important, both with our current drugs and identifying possible damage of a potential drug.
Photo credit: Biopix/JC Schou.
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.rsc.org/
http://phys.org/news/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
When medications are taken, they are excreted from the body and flow (via the sewer) to a water treatment plant. Treatment plants are not designed to test and break down these chemicals, however, and so they end up in bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. The organisms living in these areas become surrounded by traces of our drugs.
This new study looked at the effects of oxazepam, one of a group of anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines. The team (of Umeå University, Sweden) found that European Perch exposed to similar levels of oxazepam as they would experience in their natural environment changed their behaviour drastically. They were less afraid to venture into new areas, generally swam away from other perch and were quicker to eat zooplankton (their usual food).
This result shows how our drugs could severely change ecosystems. Leaving its school is a risky move for perch as they're more likely to be targeted by a predator. In addition perch eat zooplankton, which eat algae - if the perch deplete zooplankton populations too much, algae populations soar. The balance of the ecosystem could be greatly disrupted.
Oxazepam is not the first drug shown to alter fish behaviour. Other example include Prozac (which reduces fathead minnow reaction times) and ibuprofen, which decreases courtship behaviour in zebrafish. The team say the solution is not to stop ill people taking medication, but to improve treatment plants and so prevent contamination of water systems. More research is also important, both with our current drugs and identifying possible damage of a potential drug.
Photo credit: Biopix/JC Schou.
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.rsc.org/
http://phys.org/news/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
No comments:
Post a Comment