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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://qz.com/#455977/the-prozac-in-americas-wastewater-is-making-birds-fat-and-shrimp-reckless/">http://qz.com/#455977/the-prozac-in-americas-wastewater-is-making-birds-fat-and-shrimp-reckless/</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="6" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333;font-weight:bold">The Prozac in America’s wastewater is
making birds fat and shrimp reckless<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333;display:none;font-weight:bold">Written by<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333;display:none"><a href="http://qz.com/author/jakeqz/"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">Jake
Flanagin</span></font></a><a href="http://twitter.com/jakeflanagin" target="_blank"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">@jakeflanagin</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333;display:none">July 17, 2015</span></font><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333;display:none"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333">Starlings on Prozac won't fly as swiftly as these.</span></font><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333">(Reuters/Amir
Cohen)</span></font><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:12.6pt">
<b><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333;font-weight:bold">Written by<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.6pt"><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333"><a href="http://qz.com/author/jakeqz/"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">Jake
Flanagin</span></font></a><a href="http://twitter.com/jakeflanagin" target="_blank"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">@jakeflanagin</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.6pt"><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333">July 17, 2015</span></font><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><i><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C;font-style:italic">This article has been corrected.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">A 2014 US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus14.pdf#085"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">report</span></font></a> (pdf) found that, between 2009 and 2012, 9% of Americans were using a prescription antidepressant at least
once a month. Now, a sizable bunch of birds are too.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">(Hold onto your lunch.) New research has found that Prozac, one of the most commonly prescribed
antidepressants, can “significantly alter the behavior and physiology” of some bird species, The Guardian reports. The
<a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1656/20130575"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">study in question</span></font></a> concluded that wild starlings, when fed wax worms injected with levels of fluoxetine
(the generic name for Prozac) equivalent to what the birds might be exposed to by “feeding on invertebrates at a wastewater treatment plant,” showed “conspicuous changes in foraging behavior.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">That’s right—birds are getting dosed with Prozac by eating worms in your poo.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">Pretty gross, yes; but why does it matter? According to Dr. Kathryn B. Arnold, one of the
researchers involved in the study, wild starlings that ingest too much fluoxetine alter their instinctual feeding patterns from two large meals a day to continuous “snacking.” Arnold told The Guardian that this change in feeding habits could affect the species’
ability to dramatically modify its weight in accordance with the seasons—fat for winter, trim for summer. Continuous ingestion throughout the day generally makes for heavier birds all year round, which also makes it more difficult for individuals to escape
predators. Prozac, in effect, might wipe out populations of starling in and around waste-treatment plants, which could be devastating to local ecosystems, given that starlings are such avid insectivores.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">Birds aren’t the only creatures at risk for Prozac-induced problems. In 2010, National Geographic
<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/100715-shrimp-prozac-antidepressants-environment-science/">
<font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">reported on a study</span></font></a> in
<i><span style="font-style:italic">Aquatic Toxicology</span></i> which linked high fluoxetine levels in coastal waters with erratic behavior in shrimp. “Shrimp normally gravitate toward safe, dark corners. But when exposed to fluoxetine, the animals were five
times more likely to swim toward a bright region of water,” the study found; leaving them at abnormally high risk for predation. Shrimp are a staple of coast-water ecosystems, particularly in fragile estuary zones. A drop in population would be devastating—and
all too likely if shrimp continue to get hopped up on dissolved Prozac.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">Trace aquatic levels of other drugs—particularly endocrine disruptors like birth control
pills, steroids, and tamoxifen (for hormone therapy)—are contributing to a population-rise in “intersex fish,” disrupting mating patterns and unbalancing populations of breeding-age adults. According to
<a href="http://nautil.us/issue/7/waste/blissed_out-fish-on-prozac"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">a 2013 article in Nautilus</span></font></a>, “In studies done all over the world, normally male fish downstream of wastewater
plants appear to be growing ovary tissue in their testes, while female fish have been found with sperm-producing nests in their ovaries instead of eggs. The chemicals also affect sexual differentiation in the womb, tilting the balance of male to female fish
dramatically. In one study conducted downstream of Boulder’s wastewater treatment plant, researchers found a 10 to 90 ratio of male to female fish.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">An upset in the sex-ratio of breeding-age fish could contribute to massive population decline;
affecting everything from the smaller fish and microbes they feed on (overpopulation), to pescavores like the American grizzly bear (starvation). So how do we head this problem off? What can we do? We’re not going to ask nearly half of all Americans to suddenly
stop taking any and all environment-altering drugs—we need a practical alternative.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">One such alternative might entail an update to our wastewater treatment plants. The World
Health Organization (WHO) has <a href="http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/2011/pharmaceuticals_20110601.pdf">
<font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">identified a number of technologies and chemical processes</span></font></a> (pdf) than can effectively remove up to 99% of pharmaceutical traces from wastewater—<a href="http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/docs/cleanup/nanotechnology/chapter-2-membranes.pdf"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">nanofiltration</span></font></a>,
<a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/reverse-osmosis.htm"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">reverse osmosis</span></font></a>,
<a href="http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/DISINFECT/ozone.htm"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">ozonation</span></font></a>, and
<a href="http://www.nwri-usa.org/pdfs/TTChapter3AOPs.pdf"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">advanced oxidation</span></font></a> (pdf).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">We can also modify
<i><span style="font-style:italic">how</span></i> and <i><span style="font-style:italic">where</span></i> we treat wastewater. WHO suggests: “Preventive measures, such as policies promoting or regulations governing disposal practices at concentrated point sources
(e.g. health-care and veterinary facilities), can reduce the amount of pharmaceutical waste entering water bodies. In addition, take-back programmes, guidance and enhanced consumer education will support efforts for the proper disposal of medicines and reduce
the impact of pharmaceuticals entering our water sources.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">It’s worth noting that an excess of substances like fluoxetine in bodies of water isn’t
all doom-and-gloom, however. A <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/05/11052-prozac-drugs-water-great-lakes-erie/">
<font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">2013 article</span></font></a> in National Geographic cited a study conducted in Lake Erie which found that concentrations of dissolved Prozac was killing off E. coli-carrying bacteria.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">But it’s nevertheless important to weigh the benefits of pharmaceutical intervention—not
only in how they affect our personal bodies, but how they affect the environment once they leave them. Shrimp and birds, and other animals, are happiest when their habitat and planet is as undisturbed as possible. save the happy pills for making people happy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><b><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C;font-weight:bold">Correction:</span></font></b><font color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C">
A previous version of this post claimed that 48.9% of Americans used antidepressants at least once a month between 2009 and 2012. That figure refers to all prescription drugs. Nine percent of Americans reported using prescription antidepressants at least once
a month during those years.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><i><font size="3" color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C;font-style:italic">We welcome your comments at
<a href="mailto:ideas@qz.com"><font color="#168dd9"><span style="color:#168DD9;text-decoration:none">ideas@qz.com</span></font></a>.</span></font></i><font color="#4c4c4c" face="Georgia"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#4C4C4C"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="3" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333;font-weight:bold"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="#333333" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Deborah L. DeBiasi</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;font-weight:bold">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></font></b><b><i><font size="2" color="red"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:red;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic"><br>
</span></font></i></b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">WEB site address:
<a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/">www.deq.virginia.gov</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Virginia Department of Environmental Quality</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Office of Water Permits
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx">http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Mail: P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PH: 804-698-4028 FAX: 804-698-4032<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
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