https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/06/drug-pollution-wildlife-threat-aoe
Addiction, anxiety and sex reversal have been reported in species by researchers as a range of substances contaminates ecosystems
Next thing you know, people are gonna be failing drug tests because they ate a tuna sandwich...
This probably actually happens. I've heard many many stories from folks with lots of clean time who randomly pop positive for drugs like fentanyl and meth when they're tested by a treatment center or other type of provider or even their PO. I'm sure some of these cases can be explained by inaccurate self reporting (lying) but I'm very sure that some of these cases have no normal explanation, where the person legitimately has no idea how they tested positive (myself included, I've had this happen a couple times at least). Would be interested to know if this could explain it, although I'm not sure how we could figure that out definitively.
Its like back when every official person said you cant register dirty from poppy seeds on food and all these people were busted for opiates and got convicted for it and then when it was finally independently tested it turns out you can fail from eating a couple poppy seed bagels
Indeed, entirely possible. They'd basically have to start testing all of our food to both find out and be safe, but you know that ain't gonna happen.
there are so many things like this to fix and they all get hidden behind whatever dumb shit the media reports that makes people argue with each other
It boggles my mind how easy it is to tribally code an issue that should be completely uncontroversial in order to make it unsolvable. Everyone should agree that we shouldn't have every mother having pfas in their breast milk, but with a few thousand dollars and a PR firm you can make that an issue think its a good idea because their ideological enemy thinks the opposite.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
From brown trout becoming “addicted” to methamphetamine to European perch losing their fear of predators due to depression medication, scientists warn that modern pharmaceutical and illegal drug pollution is becoming a growing threat to wildlife.
Female starlings dosed with antidepressants such as Prozac at concentrations found in sewage waterways become less attractive to potential mates, with male birds behaving more aggressively and singing less to entice them than undosed counterparts.
Michael Bertram, an assistant professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, said: “Active pharmaceutical ingredients are found in waterways all around the globe, including in organisms that we might eat.”
Bertram pointed to the notable example of diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug routinely given to cattle in south Asia at the time, that caused India’s vulture population to fall by more than 97% between 1992 and 2007.
They said the lifecycle of drug production could be reformed to curb their spillover on ecosystems, and pharmacists, physicians, nurses and vets should be trained in the potential environmental impact of medicines.
“Greener drugs reduce the potential for pollution throughout the entire cycle,” said Gorka Orive, a scientist and professor of pharmacy based at the University of the Basque Country, and an author of the study.
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