GOING FISHING? YOU MIGHT GET MORE THAN YOU BARGAIN ON
The diabetes drug metformin is frequently found in freshwater streams because it is not fully removed during water treatment. It is often found at concentrations much higher than estrogens. Until now, it has been assumed that the estrogens are what is causing so many male freshwater fish to take on female characteristics, often including having eggs. But research just published in Chemosphere found that male fish who were exposed to small amounts of the diabetes drug metformin became feminized. This means that metformin is interfering with their sex hormones.
When we drink water that contains even tiny amounts of these drugs or ingest fish that contain them, it inevitably interferes with the normal hormonal regulation of our bodies, too. Interfering with sex hormones in people can cause increases in breast and prostate cancer and infertility.
This is a good reason not to flush drugs down the drain, but to take them to drug take-backs. Many police stations will take back unused pharmaceuticals. If not, bring them to your local household waste disposal site.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.