Fishes and other Sea Animals Articles from All-Creatures.org

Medicine Residue Is Everywhere in Our Rivers and Lakes—and Fish Are Behaving Strangely

From Daniel Rice, Earth/Food/Life a project of the Independent Media Institute
August 2023

They found that between 60 to 100 percent of the fish studied were intersex, meaning they had female egg cells growing on their testes. The scientists linked this phenomenon to elevated levels of estrogen in the water. But estrogen-like chemicals aren’t the only culprit.... No pharmaceuticals are currently under the EPA’s Primary Drinking Water Regulations.

For all the well-documented sources of environmental pollution—think chemical manufacturers, energy plants, mining operations, and agricultural processes—there’s another major source of contamination that continues to get short shrift by those charged with protecting the nation’s waterways and the public’s health: Pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

“Across the board, we don’t have our heads around this problem,” said Emma Rosi, senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. And considering America’s voracious appetite for pharmaceuticals—there were 3.7 billion drugs ordered or provided through physician visits alone in 2015—the scope of the problem is unsurprisingly staggering.

A team of scientists from the USGS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a study of fish at 19 different National Wildlife Refuges. They found that between 60 to 100 percent of the fish studied were intersex, meaning they had female egg cells growing on their testes. The scientists linked this phenomenon to elevated levels of estrogen in the water. But estrogen-like chemicals aren’t the only culprit.

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

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