A fish walks into a pharmacy ... well, not exactly. Fish aren't being prescribed anti-anxiety drugs. But they are experiencing the effects. Researchers have found more than 900 different pharmaceutical ingredients in rivers and streams around the world, though they're not yet sure how this could change the behavior of fish and other aquatic animals in the wild."We can't, you know, dump a bunch of pharmaceuticals into the river," says Jack Brand, biologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Instead, Jack's team did the next best thing – with some surprising results.This episode was reported by NPR science correspondent Jon Lambert. Check out more of his reporting.Want to hear more stories about animal behavior? Email us and let us know at [email protected] to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hey, short wavers. Emily Kwong here. And today I am joined by NPR science reporter Jonathan Lambert. Hey, John.
Hey, Emily.
John, I must thank you for all the hilarious and fascinating science stories you've been bringing us lately. Like chimps contagiously peeing or iguanas sailing the high seas or this most recent banger, salmon on drugs. What's that about?
Yeah. Salmon on drugs, specifically anti-anxiety drugs.
How are salmon getting a hold of, not that they have hands, but how are they getting a hold of anti-anxiety pills?
Basically through us. So when humans take medication, like for anxiety or bacterial infections, our bodies don't use all of it, and we end up peeing out some of the chemicals. That can end up in wastewater, which can get into rivers and streams, and runoff from pharmaceutical factories gets into waterways, too. Hmm.
All told, researchers have found more than 900 different pharmaceutical ingredients in waterways around the world.
900 different ingredients. That's a lot.
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