Methamphetamine pollution elicits addiction in wild fish

Horký, Pavel; Grabic, Roman; Grabicová, Kateřina; Brooks, Bryan W.; Douda, Karel; Slavík, Ondřej; Hubená, Pavla; Santos, Eugenia M Sancho; Randák, Tomáš

doi:10.1242/jeb.242145

Cited by 33 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are emitted to the natural environment during their manufacture, use, and disposal. There is evidence that environmental exposure to APIs has deleterious effects on the health of ecosystems and humans (e.g., by selecting for antibiotic resistant bacteria, feminizing fish, and increasing the susceptibility of fish to predation) ( 1 – 4 ). To fully understand the likely effects of these pharmaceutical exposures, it is essential to understand the concentrations that occur in riverine environments.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers

Wilkinson

Boxall

Kolpin

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

749

330

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Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world’s rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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confidence: 99%

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers

Wilkinson

Boxall

Kolpin

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

749

330

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“…Illicit drugs such as opioids were observed to be contaminated with heavy metals and microorganisms [ 62 ]. Reports of environmental and ecosystem contamination by illicit drug use are available, including addiction in fish as a result of methamphetamine exposure [ 93 ], which indicates the possibility of development of addiction to nonabusers through the food chain. Therefore, the development of an unsustainable ecosystem needs intervention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Illicit drugs have been shown to contaminate aquatic ecosystems worldwide, which has been expected for many years [ 89 – 92 ]. Horky and colleagues revealed fish addiction results in changes in habitat preferences, with unanticipated negative repercussions on individual and inhabitant levels [ 93 ]. This may be contributed by the dumping of illegal drugs into freshwater ecosystems or contaminated effluents.…”

Section: Contribution Of Drug Abuse To Pharmaceutical Load In the Env...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may be contributed by the dumping of illegal drugs into freshwater ecosystems or contaminated effluents. Methamphetamine is regarded as one of the most serious worldwide health threats, producing addiction and behavioural changes in brown trout Salmo trutta at a concentration of 1 µ gL −1 [ 93 ]. The impact of these substances may be amplified through bioaccumulation, bioconcentration, and biomagnification through the food chain, indicating the possibility of harming ecosystems.…”

Section: Contribution Of Drug Abuse To Pharmaceutical Load In the Env...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contribution of Illicit Drug Use to Pharmaceutical Load in the Environment: A Focus on Sub‐Saharan Africa

Ripanda

Rwiza

Nyanza

et al. 2022

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

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Illicit drug abuse and addiction are universal issues requiring international cooperation and interdisciplinary and multisectoral solutions. These addictive substances are utilized for recreational purposes worldwide, including in sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, conventional wastewater treatment facilities such as waste stabilization ponds lack the design to remove the most recent classes of pollutants such as illicit drug abuse. As a result, effluents from these treatment schemes contaminate the entire ecosystem. Public health officials are concerned about detecting these pollutants at alarming levels in some countries, with potential undesirable effects on aquatic species and increased health hazards through exposure to contaminated waters or recycling treated or untreated effluents in agriculture. Contaminants including illicit substances enter the environment by human excreta following illegal intake, spills, or through direct dumping, such as from clandestine laboratories, when their manufacturer does not follow accepted production processes. These substances, like other pharmaceuticals, have biological activity and range from pseudopersistent to highly persistent compounds; hence, they persist in the environment while causing harm to the ecosystem. The presence of powerful pharmacological agents such as cocaine, morphine, and amphetamine in water as complex combinations can impair aquatic organisms and human health. These compounds can harm human beings and ecosystem health apart from their low environmental levels. Therefore, this article examines the presence and levels of illicit substances in ecological compartments such as wastewater, surface and ground waters in sub-Saharan Africa, and their latent impact on the ecosystem. The information on the occurrences of illicit drugs and their metabolic products in the sub-Saharan Africa environment and their contribution to pharmaceutical load is missing. In this case, it is important to research further the presence, levels, distribution, and environmental risks of exposure to human beings and the entire ecosystem.

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“…The best studied case is the environmental damage related to the illicit cultivation, production and trafficking of illicit drugs. While most of the documented harmful effects are related to illicit drug crop cultivation such as coca bush, opium poppy, cannabis, or khat, there is growing evidence of the environmental harms of synthetic drug production and consumption as displayed by the contribution of Pardal and Coleman (2021) to this volume, or recent studies exploring the effect of methamphetamine pollution on fish populations (Horký et al 2021). Deforestation, the growing of drug crops as monocultures, pollution of waters, and illegal dumping sites of precursor chemicals, as well as the high carbon footprint of inhouse cultivation, are some of the most eminent effects of illicit drug economies.…”

Section: The Layers Of the Interaction Between Illicit Economies And The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction Special Issue: Environmental Impacts of Illicit Economies

Brombacher¹,

Garzón²,

Vélez³

2021

Journal of Illicit Economies and Development

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For decades, illicit economies have predominantly been studied and debated as a security problem with social and development consequences. However, the interaction between illicit economies and the environment, in cases such as illicit drug crop cultivation and drugs production, is more recent and a rather unexplored discussion-despite that it is not a new phenomenon. From an environmental standpoint, illicit economies can lead to a broad array of negative impacts, with complex interactions. This Special Issue of the Journal of illicit Economies and Development seeks to enhance the evidence basis and understanding of the environmental impacts of illicit economies beyond traditional crime-focused indicators. The special issue pursues to shed more light on the manifold interlinkages between illicit economies and the environment, contributing to a growing body of research of a rather young branch of research in the field of illicit economies. The special issue gathers a broad array of phenomena, perspectives, and disciplines, combining original research and policy considerations. The Special Issue includes contributions on the environmental impacts of illicit drug crop cultivation, drug trafficking, drug production, illicit trade in bushmeat and wildlife in general, land grabbing and illicit sand mining, covering a broad range of regions and continents.

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Methamphetamine pollution elicits addiction in wild fish

Cited by 33 publications

References 31 publications

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers

Contribution of Illicit Drug Use to Pharmaceutical Load in the Environment: A Focus on Sub‐Saharan Africa

Introduction Special Issue: Environmental Impacts of Illicit Economies

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