- Title: UK marine species exposed to cocaine and other drugs from sewage
- Date: 5th June 2024
- Summary: FORD COLLECTING ANOTHER WATER SAMPLE / WALKS AWAY VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF FORD WALKS ALONG THE SHORE (MUTE) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR ALEX FORD, UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH, SAYING: “Well, these are quite biologically active compounds, so we don't really know what effect is having on them yet. We know for some of the other prescribed pharmaceuticals that they can have quite dramatic effects. So if you cage a fish downstream of a sewage treatment plant, it will start to feminise within a couple of weeks. If you give a crab or a fish antidepressants, it will change its behaviour in very much the way it was designed to change our behaviour if we took that medication.” VARIOUS OF LANGSTONE HARBOUR EMSWORTH, ENGLAND, UK (MAY 29, 2024) (Reuters) WATER QUALITY CAMPAIGNER ROB BAILEY WALKING ON THE FORESHORE AT LOW TIDE VARIOUS OF BAILEY REMOVING ALGAE FROM SEA GRASS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROB BAILEY, CLEAN HARBOURS PARTNERSHIP, SAYING: “It is a scary prospect, maybe not so scary for people of my generation, but actually kids - much more vulnerable to this thing, a lot longer to live with this thing, these things going on around them and even inside them. So, for myself, I've actually now stopped swimming. My whole group was just disbanded because of the problem.” VARIOUS OF BAILEY WALKING ON THE FORESHORE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROB BAILEY, CLEAN HARBOURS PARTNERSHIP, SAYING: “Stopping swimming makes me feel very sad. And actually, I liken it in many ways to other sports. So if you had someone throwing sewage on your cricket pitch, you wouldn't be very happy, or on your football pitch, you wouldn't be very happy, would you? But the same has happened here with our swimming activities." PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND, UK (MAY 28, 2024) (Reuters) LABORATORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH'S INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCES MARINE BIOLOGY STUDENT TALKING TO PROFESSOR FORD VARIOUS OF STUDENTS WORKING IN THE LAB (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR ALEX FORD, UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH, SAYING: "There have been concerns amongst those scientists that study whales and dolphins, that the concentrations of some PCBs are so high now that it's preventing them from reproducing and they're infertile. And it's thought that some populations will become extinct in the future. Now, these PCBs, these polychloral biphenyls, were in our electrical components and banned over 30 years ago but they're still presenting a problem now for our wildlife. So now there are a new group of chemicals that we're worried about called PFAS compounds. Now these are known as the forever chemicals and they're found in our non-stick frying pans and our waterproof jackets, in stain proofing in our carpets and in our clothes. And there's a thousand different types of these and we're now starting to understand that they are now detectable in all our wildlife, they're detectable in us and we really need to work faster to get some of these banned." DRONE SHOT OF FORD ON THE SHORE (MUTE) VARIOUS OF SEAWEED ON THE SHORE
- Embargoed: 19th June 2024 10:44
- Keywords: Clean Harbours Partnership Professor Alex Ford Robert Bailey Southern Water University of Portsmouth coastal waters cocaine pollution recreational drugs sewage water
- Location: PORTSMOUTH, LANGSTONE & EMSWORTH, ENGLAND, UK
- City: PORTSMOUTH, LANGSTONE & EMSWORTH, ENGLAND, UK
- Country: UK
- Topics: Pollution,Environment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA005807404062024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Cocaine and ecstasy are just some of the drugs and pharmaceuticals that have been found in marine life in coastal waters around the UK, according to scientists at the University of Portsmouth and Brunel University London.
“We found cocaine in marine organisms, we found MDMA, we found methamphetamine. And these are in crabs, in oysters, in seaweeds, in worms that live in the sediment,” Professor Alex Ford, a marine biologist at the University of Portsmouth, told Reuters.
The ongoing study involved volunteer citizen scientists, all worried about the state of the water, collecting hundreds of samples from Chichester and Langstone Harbours that revealed high levels of potentially harmful chemicals in the water and wildlife.
“I've actually now stopped swimming,” Rob Bailey, a former regular sea swimmer, told Reuters.
“My whole group was just disbanded because of the problem,” he said.
Bailey is a co-founder of the Clean Harbours Partnership, a group of swimmers, sailors and windsurfers who became concerned by a rising number of reports of illness in the area.
They decided to find out exactly what is in the water and the risks posed to human health and the environment, with shocking results.
“Stopping swimming makes me feel very sad,” he said.
“If you had someone throwing sewage on your cricket pitch, you wouldn't be very happy, or on your football pitch, you wouldn't be very happy, would you? But the same has happened here with our swimming activities."
In 2021, Southern Water, who are responsible for treating water and sewage in the area, admitted more than 50 offences of dumping illegal sewage into the environment between 2010 and 2015. The offences were found to be caused by deliberate failings and the company was fined a record £90 million.
Researchers say raw sewage is only part of the problem because what people consume is only partly metabolised on its way through our bodies, resulting in a myriad of compounds being flushed out to sea that can have a dramatic effect.
“If you cage a fish downstream of a sewage treatment plant, it will start to feminise within a couple of weeks. If you give a crab or a fish antidepressants, it will change its behaviour in very much the way it was designed to change our behaviour if we took that medication,” Professor Ford said.
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