How Your Drug-Laced Music Festival Could Be Hurting Fish
When more than half a million people attend a music festival, some drug use is to be expected.
While police were busy searching the masses for consciousness-raising contraband, scientists in one study took a different tactic, testing the rivers near a popular music festival in Kenting, Taiwan, to gauge drug use.
The results look like bad news for fish.
The theory is simple: Drugs are prevalent at music festivals, and when concertgoers ingest them, they eventually pee, which ultimately sends traces of illicit pharmaceuticals into rivers and streams.
Looking at the 2011 Spring Scream—which drew more than 600,000 people—researchers found that levels of party drugs like MDMA—ecstasy—and ketamine spiked in nearby rivers. Scientists also recorded high levels of caffeine, acetaminophen, and pseudoephedrine.
“The most interesting finding was the extraordinary increase (89.1 to 940 nanograms per liter) in the party drug MDMA (ecstasy) during the youth festival,” the study authors stated. “This drug was only detected at a very low level before and after the youth festival.”
The high concentration of drugs introduced in a small region of the environment raises concerns about the area’s wildlife—particularly fish. A growing body of research is finding that mass consumption of drugs by humans is leading to detectable amounts in waterways.
That’s because conventional wastewater treatment plants weren’t designed to filter out pharmaceuticals and personal care products. So when we go to the bathroom, the drugs flow right out of sewer systems and into the waterways.
One recent study looked at how common drugs pills like ibuprofen and anti-inflammatories can affect plants—finding that certain drugs made some plant roots grow shorter and others grow longer.
In another study, scientists put low doses of estrogen—commonly found in birth control pills—in a lake. It ended up wiping out the fathead minnow population and 25 percent of the trout.
Previous sewage-searching studies have found increased levels of Adderall (a methamphetamine-based “smart drug”) during finals week, spikes in cocaine and ecstasy on weekends in London, and bacteria-killing levels of Prozac in the Great Lakes.
“The widespread occurrence of these contaminants in freshwater is potentially a major problem with consequences that are yet to be fully understood,” the authors of the Taiwan study wrote. “Although some of the compounds have been proposed to be included in regulatory lists, there is relatively little information on their ecotoxicological effects, and until now, they have escaped regulation.”
What can be done to limit our impact on the increasing amount of drug-filled sewage?
When you’re finished with a prescription, don’t throw the remaining drugs down the drain. Many communities in the United States have started drug “take-back” programs, but a nationwide program is not yet in place.
Original article from TakePart
