Posted on 05/25/2018 1:04:24 PM PDT by Red Badger
Scientists at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife have found that mussels in Seattle's waters are testing positive for opioids.
The finding suggests "a lot of people" are taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound, researchers say.
Scientists used mussels as a way to test pollution in Seattle's waters and discovered high enough oxycodone levels for the shellfish to test positive.
Mussels do not metabolise opioids, but some fish can become addicted.
Mussels are filter-feeders, which means they filter water for nutrients to nourish themselves. In the process, they end up storing pollutants in their tissues, which makes them a prime indicator species.
State researchers distributed clean mussels around the Puget Sound and extracted them months later to test the waters.
Of the 18 locations scientists used, three showed traces of oxycodone. The drug traces were not enough to get any humans high from consumption, but enough to indicate a problem, officials said.
"What we eat and what we excrete goes into the Puget Sound," Jennifer Lanksbury, a biologist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, told CBS News affiliate KIRO.
"It's telling me there's a lot of people taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound area."
Washington's King County, home to Seattle and the Puget Sound, saw a record number of drug deaths in 2016, with 332 opioid-related overdoses, according to a University of Washington study.
Also in 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that nearly 300lbs (136kg) of pharmaceuticals, personal care products and industrial compounds ended up in the Puget Sound each day, some at high enough concentrations to negatively impact fish.
Kings County Wastewater Management told local media their system can filter many contaminants, but not specifically drugs.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Mollusks are now blessed with a calming effect.
But only in months with an ‘R’ in them....................
I could have told you that.
I hope they’re happy...
If not happy, at least they are calm.....................
Everyone remain clam.
On a more serious note, never dispose of meds by flushing them
down the toilet. Return them to the pharmacy for proper disposal.
Are the mussels on steroids?
LOL!......................
could this be where the expression “happy as a clam” came from?
The newest YouTube “challenge” will be snorting cut-up Puget Sound mussels.
You read it here first, folks!
Groovy Man...
Time to open uo a seafood joint.
Calm clams....
Perhaps using the cheap (& politically connected) Dump by Night Funeral Parlor to take "care" of the opiod-laden unclaimed cadavers was not such a great idea? /S
jeff, drug abusers are not happy, not even smiley happy....
Traces. Yeah. My bathwater probably shows "traces" of alluvial gold. But I'm sure not going to get rich off it.
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