Scientists recently discovered traces of human medications in the blood of some of Florida's sharks. Various kinds of anti-depressants, cholesterol-lowering drugs and synthetic estrogens were among the prescription medications that were found in the bloodstream of young bull sharks from the Caloosahatchee River on Florida's southwest Coast.
According to the researchers, the substances made their way to the river due to the fact that it receives wastewater from several sewer plants. And although the water is treated and bacteria is removed, drugs are not, mainly because treatment systems are not designed to do so.
Scientists from the Mote Marine Laboratory, the private marine research laboratory responsible for the findings, believe that it is likely that the medications traveled to the river after being excreted by people taking them who then unknowingly flushed them down the toilet.
It is not known how the presence of human medications in the sharks' blood will affect them in the long run. Scientists are now tagging sharks with chemical-absorbing discs so they may be able to measure the amount of chemicals in their organism, as well as find out exactly what kind of effects these drugs will have on them over time.
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