Depressed fish? How Prozac in lakes and rivers may harm aquatic life
Al Jazeera
An Australian study has found fish in freshwater lakes and rivers with traces of the anti-depressant, fluoxetine.
Traces of the anti-depressant, fluoxetine – often better known by its commercial name, Prozac – have been detected by an Australian-Italian joint study of lakes and rivers, and may be affecting freshwater fish.
A five-year study by scientists from Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences and the University of Tuscia’s Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences examined the effect of pharmaceutical residues on fish in freshwater in Australia.
Fluoxetine, the third-most popular anti-depressant pharmaceutical and which was the first commercially successful selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI – a form of antidepressant) is one of the main drugs to have been found.
When patients take any type of prescription medicine, their bodies do not absorb all of the medication. The residue is excreted in urine or faeces, which is then flushed through toilets and passes into waterways and waste treatment centres.
The residue remains in the water and aquatic life in our waterways can absorb these left-over pollutants. According to some estimates, the “bioavailability” of fluoxetine is roughly 70 percent to 72 percent. Bioavailability is the portion of a drug or other substance that enters the bloodstream. The remaining 28 percent to 30 percent is excreted as waste.
