Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forget about the climate for a minute. Largely hidden from public view, another global change is causing increasing disruption. Residues of medicines in water can kill aquatic animals and play havoc with their food web and reproductive cycle. An international team of researchers led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) makes an urgent case for better wastewater treatment and biodegradable pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n
Algae that are becoming far less edible for water fleas and fish, leaving them to starve. Aquatic animals undergoing unwanted sex changes. And fish on their annual run struggling to locate their spawning ground. These are some of the disruptive effects of pharmaceutical residues on the aquatic environment.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chemical substances from pharmaceuticals wreak havoc on underwater chemical communication\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, says the head of the NIOO\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s department of Aquatic Ecology, Ellen van Donk. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been heading a team of Dutch, German and US researchers, who take stock of the problem in the next issue of Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology<\/em>. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The effects are becoming more and more visible in lakes and ponds worldwide, if you know what to look for.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n Smellscape<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Unnoticeable to most people, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an endless stream of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcchatter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 going on below the water\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surface. Most of that chatter takes the form of infochemicals: chemical substances released by aquatic plants and animals that travel through the water. Just think of the scent of a water flea that is picked up by a fish.<\/p>\n Aquatic organisms depend on this intricate \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsmellscape\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of information to locate mates and food, and to steer clear of natural enemies. But even low concentrations of pharmaceutical compounds can have a huge impact. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some of these substances may closely resemble natural infochemicals\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, explains Van Donk, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153so they may unintentionally trigger a similar reaction. Or they could do just the opposite and block vital communications.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n Increase<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Ever larger amounts of pharmaceutical residues, such as female hormones from the contraceptive pill, have been finding their way into the water \u00e2\u20ac\u201c through urination by humans and livestock. These residues are not easily biodegradable, and sewage treatment plants are not equipped to remove them.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are no hard figures\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, says Van Donk, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but surface water measurements suggest that concentrations of residues from hormones, anti-depressants and painkillers have in fact increased substantially.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n Solutions<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n The best way to fight this insidious global change, according to Van Donk and her team, is to find more effective wastewater treatment methods. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In addition, we should look at how pharmaceuticals can be processed better by the human body.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It may, for instance, be possible to make pharmaceuticals biodegradable or to absorb them completely.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153At the NIOO, we have been experimenting with an alternative wastewater treatment method that makes use of micro-organisms and algae\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, adds Van Donk. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This method is allowing us to recycle valuable so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwaste\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 materials, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re now investigating if it could also help us break down pharmaceutical residues more successfully.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n \nWith more than 300 staff and students, the NIOO is one of the largest research institutes of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). It specialises in terrestrial and aquatic ecology. As of 2011, it is located in an innovative and sustainable research building in Wageningen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forget about the climate for a minute. Largely hidden from public view, another global change is causing increasing disruption. Residues of medicines in water can kill aquatic animals and play havoc with their food web and reproductive cycle. An international team of researchers led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) makes an urgent Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}