As if marine life didn't have enough trouble from the likes of BP, now it turns out that left over Prozac is having a deadly effect on coastal shrimp. It seems that all that anti-depressant doesn't stop with the people who feel better after taking it. The basic ingredient in the medication passes through the people who take it, and, without supplying too much information, by a process which involves flushing the chemical reaches the shrimp habitat.
People take Prozac in order to feel better, less tense, more able to face life and its challenges. In the comparatively simple shrimp system, however, the drug--even in the minute amounts found in coastal waters--has a far different effect. It causes the little critters to head for the light. If you are a shrimp, and are therefore shrimpy, heading to the light where you can be more readily seen by crustacean-loving predators is not a good thing.
Am I saying that people ought to avoid Prozac for the sake of these aquatic cousins of the grasshopper? Not at all.
I would say that some caution is in order. Our society is becoming increasingly dependent on drugs that make us feel better, sit stiller, live calmer, stay awake longer, concentrate better, etc., etc. Might it be that some of them have some unseen consequences--consequences that don't invlove fins and shells?
I do know that there are too many folk who, metaphorically speaking, insist on remaining seated on a tack, eating pain-killers rather than taking the obvious solution.
Especially if you find yourself strangely drawn to the light, it's STTA.
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/838466--for-shrimp-prozac-is-an-invitation-to-danger
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