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Pharmaceuticals in fish

The daily Turun Sanomat reports that a joint study by Åbo Akademi and the University of Jyväskylä has found unexpected levels of pharmaceuticals, especially anti-inflammatory medicines, in fish in the wild.

Särkikaloja.
A new study indicates that the active ingredients in pain medications, such as ibuprofen, can collect in the gall bladders of fish. Image: Seppo Sarkkinen / YLE

The study found the active ingredients of pain medications in the gall bladders of common bream and common roach fish, but not in the organs of pikes.



The research was carried out on fish taken from Haapajärvi lake near Lappeenranta in the southeast.





The use of medications containing ibuprofen has increased sharply in recent years. In 2010 Finns used 113 tonnes of this common anti-inflammatory preparation.



Pharmaceuticals make their way into the natural environment in waste water. Water purification plants do not filter out these impurities.



Researchers say that more work needs to be done on the issue as the risks involved are not well known.

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