Doped up fish

[Adelaide]

Researchers studying fish from the Niagara River have found that human antidepressants and remnants of these drugs are building up in their brains.
The concentration of human drugs was discovered by scientists from University at Buffalo, Buffalo State and two Thai universities, Ramkhamhaeng University and Khon Kaen University.
Active ingredients and metabolized remnants of Zoloft, Celexa, Prozac and Sarafem — drugs that have seen a sharp spike in prescriptions in North America — were found in 10 fish species.

Human antidepressants building up in brains of fish in Niagara river - CBC news


Interesting that it is impacting fish/the ecosystem. I had never heard of this before this article. I imagine I have gotten my fair share of fish doped up over the years.

[Common]

Wonderful strung out fish, antibiotic meat, polluted plants

[Adelaide]

@Chloe - have you ever come across this before in your studies? It makes sense to me now that I am reading it, but I have never heard of it previously.

[Perianne]

Human antidepressants building up in brains of fish in Niagara river - CBC news

Interesting that it is impacting fish/the ecosystem. I had never heard of this before this article. I imagine I have gotten my fair share of fish doped up over the years.

For several years we have been directed to dispose of medications in the correct containers as flushing them down the sink leads to them getting in the rivers.

[Adelaide]

For several years we have been directed to dispose of medications in the correct containers as flushing them down the sink leads to them getting in the rivers.

I worked for a specialty pharmacy (IV, IM, central lines/ports, intrathecal lines, enteral feeds, so on, plus medical supplies including pumps for those) at one point and we dumped a lot of things down sinks or showers. We would get a lot of returned IV bags from families of deceased patients and I would often end up in the clean room dumping bags of whatever (antibiotics mostly) down the sink dressed in universal precaution wear. I never really thought about it. Pretty sure the pharmacy techs did the same thing with pain medications in their clean room. Some returned things did end up in biohazard bags that would get picked up, but because of the weight and amount of waste, anything liquid was usually cut open and drained before going into biohazard bags and boxes.

Now I am wondering if that was legal, hah.

[Perianne]

I worked for a specialty pharmacy (IV, IM, central lines/ports, intrathecal lines, enteral feeds, so on, plus medical supplies including pumps for those) at one point and we dumped a lot of things down sinks or showers. We would get a lot of returned IV bags from families of deceased patients and I would often end up in the clean room dumping bags of whatever (antibiotics mostly) down the sink dressed in universal precaution wear. I never really thought about it. Pretty sure the pharmacy techs did the same thing with pain medications in their clean room. Some returned things did end up in biohazard bags that would get picked up, but because of the weight and amount of waste, anything liquid was usually cut open and drained before going into biohazard bags and boxes.

Now I am wondering if that was legal, hah.

I don't know the legalities of it, but I suspect the EPA has rules. I know we are graded on our adherence to proper disposal in our yearly evaluation. Our medications we give, if different from the normal disposal methods, are marked on how to dispose of them. This started at our hospital probably about eight years ago and our medication rooms hold the proper containers. We are also trained yearly on proper disposal.

[Perianne]

We also have something called a Cactus disposal thingy right at the Accudose/Pyxis. For example, an order for dilaudid is commonly 1/2 milligram, but the dispensed unit is usually 1 milligram. The Cactus thingy is right there so we have handy access to proper disposal for the remaining 1/2 milligram.

[Peter1469]

This is a big issue. A bigger problem than a minimumal amount of CO2.

[Bethere]

This is a big issue.

Agreed.

[Crepitus]

Human antidepressants building up in brains of fish in Niagara river - CBC news


Interesting that it is impacting fish/the ecosystem. I had never heard of this before this article. I imagine I have gotten my fair share of fish doped up over the years.

Are they less depressed? Do fish even get depressed?