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Traces of the antidepressant fluoxetine, commonly known as Prozac, have been detected in freshwater fish, according to a joint Australian-Italian study.
Over the course of five years, scientists from Monash University and the University of Tuscia investigated how pharmaceutical residues affect freshwater fish in Australia. When people take medications, not all of the drug is absorbed by their bodies; the remainder is excreted and eventually ends up in waterways.
Despite treatment at waste facilities, many plants aren’t equipped to filter out pharmaceutical chemicals, allowing these residues to enter rivers and lakes. Fish can then absorb these contaminants from the treated water. Improper disposal of unused or expired medications through toilets further exacerbates the issue.
In 2016, researchers collected 3,600 male guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from Alligator Creek in North Queensland to investigate fluoxetine contamination. Initially, they found no traces of the drug. However, they then exposed 15 successive generations of these guppies—each living about two years—to fluoxetine over a five-year period. The fish were randomly assigned to one of three exposure groups: no fluoxetine (control), a “low” level reflecting typical surface water concentrations, or a “high” level, representing waters heavily impacted by human waste.
The study found that male guppies exposed to even low levels of fluoxetine developed an enlarged gonopodium, a modified anal fin used for insemination, which can increase mating success. However, these guppies also showed reduced sperm mobility, leading to lower fertility.
Additionally, the energy required to maintain the larger gonopodium negatively impacted their overall health. Giovanni Polverino from the University of Tuscia noted that the long-term health effects on the fish are still being investigated.
Prozac and other drugs cannot be filtered from your water.
Here is the warning research.
“Long‐term effects of widespread pharmaceutical pollution on trade‐offs between behavioural, life‐history and reproductive traits in fish”—Journal of Animal Ecology https://t.co/hG7JTAKqO3
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) August 27, 2024
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