PHARMACEUTICALS FOUND IN FISH CAUGHT IN CHICAGO AREA
A new study reports that prescription drugs used to treat depression, high blood pressure, seizures and other ailments are turning up in fish caught downstream from a Chicago sewage treatment plant. Little is known about the potential effects of drugs in the water on people and wildlife, but scientists and regulators are becoming increasingly concerned about long-term exposure, even at low levels.
The study, performed by researchers from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, reported similar findings near sewage plants in Dallas, Orlando, Philadelphia and Phoenix. These findings echo earlier testing that found pharmaceuticals in the drinking water of Chicago and other American cities. Prescription drugs end up in drinking water and fish when people take medicaitons and the residue passes through their bodies and into the sewers. Conventional sewage and drinking water treatment filters out some substances, but several studies have found that small amounts are able to pass through nevertheless. The drugs are then absorbed by fish and accumulate in livers and other tissue.
As more studies report pharmaceuticals in drinking water and in wildlife, regulators are reversing their long-held advice that people should flush unused or old drugs down toilets.
