Psych drugs found in fish brains. Fish tweeting about chemical imbalances.
Researchers from the University of Buffalo have found that psychiatric drugs and their metabolized remnants are building up in the brains of fish species in the Great Lakes: Selective Uptake and Bioaccumulation of Antidepressants in Fish from Effluent-Impacted Niagara River Waste treatment facilities don’t remove chemicals like those found in psychiatric medications. This may sound harmless in trace amounts but the study found the chemicals accumulated in the fish brains. They recorded sertraline in concentrations in the fish brains at levels 20 times higher than in the water and norsertraline, its breakdown product, at concentrations that ranged up to hundreds of times those found in the water. As the study researchers point out: “These drugs could affect fish behavior. We didn’t look at behavior in our study, but other research teams have shown that antidepressants can affect the feeding behavior of fish or their survival instincts. Some fish won’t acknowledge the presence of predators as much.” Antidepressants found in fish brains in Great Lakes region
