Medications for mental illnesses may affect marine life in the Netherlands. For example, researchers saw that fish and crustaceans became more courageous as a result of anti-anxiety drugs. Tranquilizers made them move less.
Medicine residues end up in the water via the sewer. This mainly happens because people pee out the remains. But it also happens that people flush the resources down the toilet unused.
Maastricht University and the RIVM investigated for the first time which so-called psychopharmaceuticals are present in Dutch surface water. They also looked at the effects of the resources on aquatic life.
The researchers mainly found the substances oxazepam, carbamazepine and fluoxetine in the water. Oxazepam is one of the most prescribed drugs in our country. It helps against feelings of anxiety and tension. Carbamazepine is a drug that suppresses the symptoms of epilepsy.
Animals move faster out of water plants
In a laboratory, RIVM investigated the effects of drug residues on fish and crustaceans. For example, RIVM researcher Caroline Moermond saw that the fish were sometimes braver. As a result, they came out of the water plants faster. Sometimes the fish and lobsters were calmer.
Both phenomena result in them being eaten more quickly by other animals. If the effects also occur in the wild, according to Moermond, this will ultimately have consequences for the entire food chain.
Medicine residues do not end up in our drinking water
The researchers advise against flushing leftover drugs down the toilet or sink, but returning them to the pharmacy.
According to researcher and psychiatrist Jurjen Luykx, doctors should also become more alert to the effects that certain medicines can have on the environment. For example, they would have to choose the least harmful drug for two comparable drugs. There are currently no guidelines for this, but according to Luykx there should be.
Incidentally, we don’t have to worry about our drinking water, emphasizes Moermond. Before water comes out of our tap, it is purified even more. As a result, no medicine residues end up in your glass of water, says the RIVM.
