[Pharmwaste] Traces of Anxiety Drug May Affect Fish Behavior - another article about this research

[Tenace, Laurie]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Study-Fish-in-drug-tainted-water-suffer-reaction-4278890.php

BOSTON (AP) - What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.

It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.

The findings, published online Thursday in the journal Science, add to the mounting evidence that minuscule amounts of medicines in rivers and streams can alter the biology and behavior of fish and other marine animals.

"I think people are starting to understand that pharmaceuticals are environmental contaminants," said Dana Kolpin, a researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey who is familiar with the study.

Calling their results alarming, the Swedish researchers who did the study suspect the little drugged fish could become easier targets for bigger fish because they are more likely to venture alone into unfamiliar places.

"We know that in a predator-prey relation, increased boldness and activity combined with decreased sociality ... means you're going to be somebody's lunch quite soon," said Gregory Moller, a toxicologist at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. "It removes the natural balance."

Researchers around the world have been taking a close look at the effects of pharmaceuticals in extremely low concentrations, measured in parts per billion. Such drugs have turned up in waterways in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere over the past decade.

They come mostly from humans and farm animals; the drugs pass through their bodies in unmetabolized form. These drug traces are then piped to water treatment plants, which are not designed to remove them from the cleaned water that flows back into streams and rivers.

The Associated Press first reported in 2008 that the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans carries low concentrations of many common drugs. The findings were based on questionnaires sent to water utilities, which reported the presence of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones and other drugs.

The news reports led to congressional hearings and legislation, more water testing and more public disclosure. To this day, though, there are no mandatory U.S. limits on pharmaceuticals in waterways.

The research team at Sweden's Umea University used minute concentrations of 2 parts per billion of the anti-anxiety drug oxazepam, similar to concentrations found in real waters. The drug belongs to a widely used class of medicines known as benzodiazepines that includes Valium and Librium.

The team put young wild European perch into an aquarium, exposed them to these highly diluted drugs and then carefully measured feeding, schooling, movement and hiding behavior. They found that drug-exposed fish moved more, fed more aggressively, hid less and tended to school less than unexposed fish. On average, the drugged fish were more than twice as active as the others, researcher Micael Jonsson said. The effects were more pronounced at higher drug concentrations.

"Our first thought is, this is like a person diagnosed with ADHD," said Jonsson, referring to attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. "They become asocial and more active than they should be."

Tomas Brodin, another member of the research team, called the drug's environmental impact a global problem. "We find these concentrations or close to them all over the world, and it's quite possible or even probable that these behavioral effects are taking place as we speak," he said Thursday in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Most previous research on trace drugs and marine life has focused on biological changes, such as male fish that take on female characteristics. However, a 2009 study found that tiny concentrations of antidepressants made fathead minnows more vulnerable to predators.

It is not clear exactly how long-term drug exposure, beyond the seven days in this study, would affect real fish in real rivers and streams. The Swedish researchers argue that the drug-induced changes could jeopardize populations of this sport and commercial fish, which lives in both fresh and brackish water.

Water toxins specialist Anne McElroy of Stony Brook University in New York agreed: "These lower chronic exposures that may alter things like animals' mating behavior or its ability to catch food or its ability to avoid being eaten - over time, that could really affect a population."

Another possibility, the researchers said, is that more aggressive feeding by the perch on zooplankton could reduce the numbers of these tiny creatures. Since zooplankton feed on algae, a drop in their numbers could allow algae to grow unchecked. That, in turn, could choke other marine life.

The Swedish team said it is highly unlikely people would be harmed by eating such drug-exposed fish. Jonsson said a person would have to eat 4 tons of perch to consume the equivalent of a single pill.

Researchers said more work is needed to develop better ways of removing drugs from water at treatment plants. They also said unused drugs should be brought to take-back programs where they exist, instead of being flushed down the toilet. And they called on pharmaceutical companies to work on "greener" drugs that degrade more easily.

Sandoz, one of three companies approved to sell oxazepam in the U.S., "shares society's desire to protect the environment and takes steps to minimize the environmental impact of its products over their life cycle," spokeswoman Julie Masow said in an emailed statement. She provided no details.


-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Volkman, Jennifer (MPCA)
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 8:07 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] Traces of Anxiety Drug May Affect Fish Behavior, Study Shows - NYT article

I listened to Charlotte Brody from the Bluegreen Alliance speak at a Green Chemistry conference a couple of weeks ago. She talked about how the "dose makes the poison" theory is no longer adequate to determine the potential impacts of toxins. I've understood that for years, but she also stated that certain toxins in minuscule doses are viewed by the body's endocrine system as hormones, whereas in larger doses, the body views them as a toxin and responds differently. I thought that was an interesting way to put that and I see in this article, they are looking only at high dose responses vs. ultra low doses and are nearly ignoring that lower doses might still cause impacts. The accumulation aspect is not surprising but is interesting as well. And of course I am trying to figure out whether it would be worthwhile to soak my minnows in Oxazepam so they are more active and risky, to bring in the big bite.

-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Tenace, Laurie
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 2:15 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Traces of Anxiety Drug May Affect Fish Behavior, Study Shows - NYT article

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/science/traces-of-anxiety-drug-may-affect-fish-behavior-study-shows.html?_r=0


Researchers in Sweden exposed wild European perch to water with different concentrations of Oxazepam, a generic anti-anxiety medication that can show up in waterways after being flushed, excreted or discarded.

Researchers reported that fish exposed to Oxazepam became less social, more active and ate faster, behaviors they said could have long-term consequences for aquatic ecosystems.

Scientists who study pharmaceuticals in waterways said the research was intriguing because it examined the potential effect on animals of a specific medication designed to affect human behavior.

"It seems to be a solid study with an environmentally relevant species," said Donald Tillitt, an environmental toxicologist with the United States Geological Survey who was not involved in the study. He said it made sense that a medication that binds with a certain brain receptor in people could act similarly in fish, and the measures of behavior - activity, sociability, boldness and feeding rate - "are all important ones that we like to look at when we're trying to see the environmental effects of pharmaceuticals."

Still, because even the lowest concentration of Oxazepam in the study was higher than that found in the Swedish waterway researchers tested, "the relevance of their study to the real world is unclear," the Environmental Protection Agency said in written answers to questions.

The agency said that while "most pharmaceuticals do not seem to pose known risks to humans, animals or the rest of the ecosystem" at the levels they occur in the environment, there are some medications "for which some researchers have noted physiological effects in fish exposed to levels close to those occasionally reached in the environment. These include some ingredients used for contraception, hypertension and mood disorders."

The agency said how often this occurs and the possible environmental repercussions are unknown.

The study joins a small but growing body of research exploring the possible environmental impact of chemicals in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other products. Many of these chemicals are not removed by wastewater treatment plants, which were designed to remove bacteria and nutrients, experts said.

The topic is difficult to study partly because concentrations of chemicals in waterways can vary with season, hour and distance from treatment plants, and other medications in water may influence a chemical's effects.

The United States Geological Survey has found "intersex fish," or male fish that develop female sexual characteristics, in the Potomac River and its tributaries, raising questions about whether hormone residues might be responsible. A study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft in the brains of fish collected downstream from wastewater discharge in Colorado and Iowa. But some antidepressants that were more common in those waterways, including Zyban and Citalopram, were not found as frequently in the fish.

In the Swedish study, researchers first tested perch in the wastewater-treated Fyris River, near the city of Uppsala, and found their muscle tissue contained six times the river's concentration of Oxazepam, said Tomas Brodin, the lead author and an assistant professor of ecology at Umea University.

Researchers then took baby fish hatched from the roe of wild perch in what they considered a drug-free waterway, and divided them into three groups of 25. One group had no exposure to Oxazepam; the other two were placed in water with what researchers called a low concentration, at three times higher than the River Fyris, or an extremely high concentration, at 1,500 times higher.

The more Oxazepam they ingested the more active the fish were, measured by the number of swimming motions in a 10-minute period. They were also less social, spending less time near a section of the tank with other fish and more time near an empty compartment. And they were quicker to grab and eat zooplankton. At the highest Oxazepam concentration, fish were also bolder, measured by how long it took them to leave a box in the tank and explore new territory.

"Basically, no one left the box before they were subjected to the drug," said Dr. Brodin, who said he saw the difference when he entered the room each day. The non-exposed fish "were hiding basically," while the others "were out there, greeting me. They were totally different fish."

In a statement, Matthew Bennett, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the study yielded "somewhat expected results" because of its higher-than-natural concentrations. He said the behavioral changes were small, and the study methods contradicted "widely accepted protocols that determine how the low levels of Oxazepam found in the environment accumulate in fish. The environmental relevance and potential for long-term impact from this drug, which has been in use for decades are therefore debatable."

Joel A. Tickner, an environmental scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who was not involved in the research, said he considered the study significant. "These effects may be very subtle," he said, but "what they're finding is it's biologically relevant."

Dr. Brodin, the lead author of the study, said the implications were unclear for perch, which might benefit from Oxazepam exposure by becoming more efficient eaters or be disadvantaged because enhanced risk-taking behavior might increase their vulnerability to predators. Zooplankton, algae and other organisms could also be affected by changes in fish behavior, he said.

Dr. Tillett, the toxicologist with the Geological Survey, said, "We're smart enough and we should be able to design chemicals that fulfill these same sorts of functions but with less stress on the environment."


Laurie Tenace
Environmental Specialist III
Waste Reduction Section
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Rd., MS 4555
Tallahassee FL 32399-2400
P: 850.245.8759
F: 850.245.8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us
Mercury: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm
Batteries: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/batteries/default.htm
Pharmaceuticals:  http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/pharm/






Please take a few minutes to share your comments on the service you received from the department by clicking on this link Copy the url below to a web browser to complete the DEP survey: http://survey.dep.state.fl.us/?refemail=Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us


---
Note: As a courtesy to other listserv subscribers, please post messages to the listserv in plain text format to avoid the garbling of messages received by digest recipients.
---
TO SUBSCRIBE, go to:   http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, DO NOT REPLY TO THE LISTSERV. Please send an e-mail to pharmwaste-unsubscribe at lists.dep.state.fl.us -- the subject line and body of the e-mail should be blank.
If you believe you may be subscribed with a different email address, please visit the subscriber listing at http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/roster/pharmwaste
FOR PROBLEMS:  Contact List Administrator Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us SEND MAIL to the list server at:  pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us


---
Note: As a courtesy to other listserv subscribers, please post messages to the listserv in plain text format to avoid the garbling of messages received by digest recipients.
---
TO SUBSCRIBE, go to:   http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, DO NOT REPLY TO THE LISTSERV. Please send an e-mail to pharmwaste-unsubscribe at lists.dep.state.fl.us -- the subject line and body of the e-mail should be blank.
If you believe you may be subscribed with a different email address, please visit the subscriber listing at http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/roster/pharmwaste
FOR PROBLEMS:  Contact List Administrator Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us SEND MAIL to the list server at:  pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us