{"id":28846,"date":"2024-07-01T09:16:58","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T08:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=28846"},"modified":"2026-01-14T04:28:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:28:56","slug":"fish-change-gender-and-experience-anxiety-how-medications-affect-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/fish-change-gender-and-experience-anxiety-how-medications-affect-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Fish Change Gender and Experience Anxiety: How Medications Affect Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is <\/span><\/span>more<\/span><\/span> evidence<\/a> of the negative effects of human <\/span><\/span>drugs <\/span><\/span>on nature. For instance, there <\/span><\/span>was<\/span><\/span> a case where antidepressants, entering wastewater, changed the behavior of starlings. Consequently, the female birds became less attractive, and the males became aggressive and uninterested in finding mates.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Researchers also <\/span><\/span>examined<\/span><\/span><\/a> fish “hooked” on methamphetamine. Although this substance is used <\/span><\/span>to <\/span><\/span>treat certain disorders, it <\/span><\/span>is widespread <\/span><\/span>on the black<\/span><\/span> market<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>According<\/span><\/span><\/a> to the UN, it is the second most common drug in the world. Experiments showed that when methamphetamine entered the water, it caused dependence in fish. In a clean environment, the fish experienced “withdrawal syndrome,” stress, and, as a result, inability to move. In the wild, this dependence can result in fish preferring to live directly <\/span><\/span>near<\/span><\/span> the source of wastewater discharge, altering the life of entire ecosystems.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>research<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/span>finds that<\/span><\/span> minnows experience “anxiety” after exposure to caffeine, <\/span><\/span>while another <\/span><\/span>paper<\/span><\/span><\/a> says<\/span><\/span> perches lose their fear of predators due to antidepressants. A <\/span><\/span>bear<\/span><\/span><\/a> that died in the United States from a cocaine overdose has already become a symbol of man’s reckless <\/span><\/span>attitude to<\/span><\/span> nature.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the largest bird <\/span><\/span>extinctions<\/span><\/span><\/a> occurred in India, where the vulture population decreased by 99.9%. The <\/span><\/span>culprit<\/span><\/span> was an anti-inflammatory drug given to<\/span><\/span> the local<\/span><\/span> cattle. After the animals died<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> vultures <\/span><\/span>fed on<\/span><\/span> their carrion<\/span><\/span>, indirectly consumed the medicine, and<\/span><\/span> subsequently<\/span><\/span> died of kidney failure. Without the vultures, carcasses were left to rot, spreading infection. <\/span><\/span>Eventually w<\/span><\/span>ild dogs <\/span><\/span>started to eat<\/span><\/span> the meat instead<\/span><\/span> of the birds<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>causing<\/span><\/span> rabies<\/span><\/span> to spread<\/span><\/span>. As a result, <\/span><\/span>using<\/span><\/span> the drug for <\/span><\/span>the Indian <\/span><\/span>livestock led to more than 47,000 human deaths from rabies and $34 billion in economic damage.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are a few <\/span><\/span>ways<\/span><\/span> n<\/span><\/span>arcotic and pharmaceutical <\/span><\/span>substances <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>can <\/span><\/span>enter the environment. Factories dump drug residues during production. Some drugs end up in the sewer after being excreted from <\/span><\/span>human<\/span><\/span>s,<\/span><\/span> and some <\/span><\/span>are <\/span><\/span>simply drain<\/span><\/span>ed<\/span><\/span> into <\/span><\/span>a<\/span><\/span> sink or <\/span><\/span>a <\/span><\/span>toilet. <\/span><\/span>After all, t<\/span><\/span>his is how most of us would dispose of antibiotics leftovers<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>to<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>then<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>\u201csustainabl<\/span><\/span>y<\/span><\/span>\u201d <\/span><\/span>throw an empty plastic bottle into <\/span><\/span>a <\/span><\/span>recycling<\/span><\/span> bin<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>Unused m<\/span><\/span>edicines also end up in landfills with <\/span><\/span>other<\/span><\/span> garbage.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A recent<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>study<\/span><\/span><\/a> clearly shows the scale of the problem. Scientists <\/span><\/span>analy<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>ed<\/span><\/span> the state of rivers in 1,052 locations across 104 countries. In 43% of cases, <\/span><\/span>the <\/span><\/span>level of at least one substance exceeded permissible safety standards. In the most polluted places, several different <\/span><\/span>medicines<\/span><\/span> were found in the water simultaneously. <\/span><\/span>Importantly,<\/span><\/span> global drug pollution is harmful not only to nature but also to humans, as these substances can enter groundwater used for drinking.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Scientists are <\/span><\/span>sounding the <\/span><\/span>alarm<\/span><\/span> and calling for<\/span><\/span> the<\/span><\/span> “<\/span><\/span>gre<\/span><\/span>e<\/span><\/span>ening<\/span><\/span>” of the life cycle of medicines. Firstly, they propose training staff to more effectively dispense medicines, considering the environmental impact. Secondly, <\/span><\/span>people<\/span><\/span> need <\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>pecial c<\/span><\/span>ampaigns <\/span><\/span>inform<\/span><\/span>ing them<\/span><\/span> how to handle medicines to avoid polluti<\/span><\/span>on<\/span><\/span>. Thirdly, manufacturers should not dump <\/span><\/span>pharmaceutical <\/span><\/span>waste <\/span><\/span>into rivers and lakes <\/span><\/span>and<\/span><\/span> “improve” their formulas so that <\/span><\/span>medicines <\/span><\/span>more easily<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>decompose <\/span><\/span>in nature. A <\/span><\/span>universal <\/span><\/span>wastewater treatment system is also essential. At least half of all <\/span><\/span>wastewaters<\/span><\/span> (48%) is discharged into reservoirs untreated, and existing <\/span><\/span>treatment <\/span><\/span>plants<\/span><\/span> are not designed to <\/span><\/span>purify<\/span><\/span> water of <\/span><\/span>drugs<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pharmaceuticals released into the environment harm entire populations of animals, birds, and fish \u2013 we already know that. However, the fact that under the influence of contraceptives, some male fish “feminise” and female fish cannot perform their reproductive functions is quite an alarming discovery. As a result of such changes, an entire species of fish died out in a lake, The Guardian reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":28140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[],"class_list":["post-28846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60036,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28846\/revisions\/60036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28846"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=28846"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=28846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}