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Few animals have suffered both humans and a canine breed: The Pug (or Carlino). Deliberate breeding of this type of dog has given rise to all kinds of physical malformations, with a distorted anatomy (Extremely stoking skull, exposed eyes, compressed airways and dysfunctional jaws) as a result of systematic and cruel artificial manipulation. To the list of creatures to which we make life very complicated We must add another that is adapting to our taste for drugs: salmon. First it was cocaine. June 2020. The officials of the State Agency of the Environment of North-Westphaly (LANUV) ran into a disturbing scene In a German fish farming: Atlantic salmon they were agreed frantically, tried to jump out of the water and showed a chaotic behavior That, according to experts, it could only be explained by a strong feeling of discomfort. Loomed salmon. The situation arose within the framework of a species conservation project, and due to the unusual episode, it was documented in the annual report of the agency under the title of “Salmon with cocaine”. After analyzing the water from the streams that fed the tanks, they ruled out a long list of pesticides, herbicides and common drugs, until they detected two particularly striking substances: yes, cocaine and their metabolite Benzoylecgonine. A documented reality. The clear presence of cocaine in one of the nearby streams led researchers to conclude that a drug reaction could not be discarded, much less. The most plausible hypothesis pointed to a illegal discharge Wastewater in the stream channel, a practice common In Europe and the United States, where clandestine laboratories and drug trafficking networks eliminate their waste in water bodies. Far from being an isolated case, what happened in Germany joined a growing line of investigations that document how illegal drug waste present in rivers and streams directly affect aquatic fauna. In United Kingdom, SpainCentral Europe and other regions, Identified methamphetamineMDMA and other substances at levels that, although low, are enough to alter the fish behavior. A first job. A scientific study was even further: researchers intentionally exposed trout to Methaphetamine dose Similar to those detected in rivers, and observed how they developed signs of addiction, they modified their behavior and, when they were transferred to clean environments, they had symptoms of abstinence. The experiments revealed that many drugs designed to affect the human brain also interact with the neuronal systems of other speciesgenerating unpredictable consequences. And then the anxiolytics. The salmon were much more than the coca. In one unprecedented researcha team of scientists has confirmed that drug waste circulating in rivers not only reaches aquatic species, but are modifying their behavior In full nature. The study, Posted in Sciencefollowed the migration of 279 young salmon from the Atlantic on the Dal River, in Sweden, after implementing slow -release capsules with two medications commonly found in contaminated waters: CLOBAZAMan anxiolytic of the benzodiazepines family, and Tramadolan opioid analgesic. What did they find? The researchers discovered that those salmon exposed to clobazam reached the Baltic Sea in a greater proportion than those not medicated, and did it until three times faster When crossing hydroelectric dams, raffling turbines with an unusual audacity for their species. The result surprised scientists, who expected that excess of boldness to reduce the probabilities of survival. “Artificial” courage. Although in this context the reckless behavior It seemed to facilitate migration (by shortening the time of exposure to dangerous obstacles such as turbines), experts warn that this alteration of natural behavior could have deep ecological consequences. Clobazam caused fish to adopt more individualistic behavior, less gregarious, which could increase your vulnerability before the predators once in an open sea. Parallel experiments in laboratory support this idea: the medical salmon showed Less trend To form banks, an essential collective defense strategy. This tendency to separate from the group would make them more visible and easy to hunt, which raises doubts about their long -term survival capacity, something that the study could not track once the fish reached the Baltic. Silent contamination In the background, another problem. The investigation It provides a conclusive evidence that the effects observed in laboratory with psychiatric drugs (such as a lower response to fear, loss of social behavior and increased risk taking) are also produced in natural conditionsand with doses comparable to those found in real ecosystems. The finding reinforces the concern about the called “Pharmaceutical Soup” which flows through the rivers of the world: more than 900 active pharmacological ingredients have been detected in natural waters, from antibiotics to antidepressants and chemotherapeutics. Many of these drugs act on areas of the brain common to multiple speciesso that fish and other aquatic animals are exposed to non -expected side effects, dangerous combinations and interactions still very little studied. A global threat. The researcher Karen Kidd, a specialist in ecotoxicology, underlined these days that the real risk is in the Multiple substance accumulation with different effects, whose consequences together are unpredictable. For scientists, this is a problem of Planetary scope which demands a systemic response: it is urgent to develop more advanced wastewater treatment stations, capable of eliminating these compounds before they reach the rivers, as well as promoting the design of more biodegradable medications. The key, they warn, is to act before these subtle but constant changes undermine the Ecosystems balance built for millennia. Because, although technology can continue to detect alterations, only a determined action can stop the invisible deterioration of life under water. Meanwhile, among anxiolytics that make them reckless and streams contaminated with cocaine that alter their vital pulse, the millenary fight of salmon against currents and predators has added a new and unprecedented new enemy: the invisible waste of human addictions. Image | Csiro, Pexels In Xataka | Until the 90s nobody in Japan ate sushi with raw salmon. Until a marketing campaign changed everything In Xataka | A gigantic cage 110 meters in diameter designed solely and exclusively for raising salmon: Ocean Farm 1