Tag Archives: Endocrine system

Fish feminization: An impact of pharmaceutical drugs in our water

Today, there is a pill for almost anything and everything.  Have a headache from studying too much organic chemistry? There’s a pill for that.   Depressed after getting your Chem 233 midterm back?  There’s a pill for that too.  What many people fail to realize is that our increased use of pharmaceutical drugs is having a profound impact on our environment.

Birth control pills
Photo taken from Wikipedia Commons

After consumption, a small percentage of the drugs are excreted into the environment via the sewage systems.  Currently, the vast majority of water treatment facilities do not screen and treat for such drugs because of the high associated cost.

In 1999, the United States Geological Survey reported that over 50 different pharmaceutical drugs were found in rivers and streams across the United States. Just over 10 years later in 2009, they released another report stating that up to 91% of largemouth bass, a common North American fresh water fish found in a river in South Carolina, had both male and female reproductive organs.  This phenomena is called intersex.

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
Photo taken from Wikipedia Commons

Intersex fish are either infertile or have reduced reproductive ability causing significant declines in the size of populations.

The presence of intersex fish is the result of an imbalance of sex hormones.  Many drugs act as artificial hormones and disrupt the organism’s endocrine system, which is responsible for regulating numerous biological processes.  Birth control pills are especially harmful to the environment as they release large amounts of estrogen, causing male fish to begin to develop as females.  In the same 2009 study, the United States Geological Survey reported finding male fish with female egg cells in their testes.

Although there have been no studies documenting such dramatic effects in humans, the need to reduce the amount of pharmaceutical drugs in our water is clear.

In order to reduce the presence of drugs in our water system, the first step to take is ensuring that all drugs are properly disposed.  Since 1996, the B.C. Medications Return Program has played an important role in this step.  Almost all pharmacies in BC now, at no charge, accept and dispose of unused or expired medications in an environmentally safe way.

If the presence of pharmaceutical drugs in natural water systems continues to increase, not only will many fish species be adversely affected, so to will all the associated species that rely on these fish.

Keep the potential impact of pharmaceuticals on the environment in mind the next time you want to throw away that old bottle of Advil.  Otherwise, Finding Nemo 2 might have to be rebranded as “Finding Nina”.

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By Morgan Haines