Fish On Prozac: Psychiatric Drug Pollution May Harm Wild Fish
Antidepressants like Prozac (fluoxetine) have helped millions of people around the world, but studies show they may be harming wildlife and wild fish
Β© by GrrlScientist for Forbes | LinkTr.ee
Antidepressants with tongue-twisting names such as fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Cipralex) and sertraline (Zoloft), are typically the first choices for treatment of depression and anxiety disorders and thus, have been a godsend for many millions of people around the world.
But these psychoactive drugs, which are metabolized mainly by the liver, are not completely broken down in the human body, so they give rise to active metabolites ( ref). The body then eliminates the drug itself as well as its metabolites in urine and feces. Which which raises an important question: what happens to them after they are excreted?
Disturbingly, pharmaceutical waste and metabolites end up in the water. Basically, with our improvements in analytical techniques, weβve been detecting antidepressants almost everywhere: in wastewater, surface water, groundwater, and even drinking water. However wastewater treatment plants are not specifically designed to completely remove pharmaceutical drugs and their metabolites from water, so theβ¦
