According to a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi study, the blubber of common bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico contains evidence of medications such as sedatives, opioids, and muscle relaxants.
Thirty of the 89 blubber samples that were collected—83 from living dolphins and six from post-mortem dolphins—contained traces of prescription medications. All post-mortem biopsies and 18 samples contained fentanyl, an opioid 100 times more potent than morphine.
Given that dolphins in the gulf consume a lot of the same fish and shrimp that humans do, the study raises worries about micropollutants that may also have an impact on humans.
Bottlenose dolphins are referred to by TAMU-CC as a “bioindicator species of ecosystem health” that highlights what appears to be a persistent problem with pharmaceutical pollution.
The project’s principal investigator, Dr. Dara Orbach, an assistant professor of marine biology at TAMU-CC, stressed the need for larger-scale research to look into the causes of this type of pervasive pollution as well as its consequences and dosages, which are yet unknown.
The study’s co-author, Dr. Christiana Wittmaack, advised people to be careful about how they dispose of medications for the time being.
“We really need to be cognizant of how we dispose of our pharmaceuticals,” Wittmaack stated. “Even if they get into our soil, they can still leak into our rivers, so we must be careful not to just throw them away or flush them down the toilet. Therefore, since pharmaceuticals are entering the environment, we need to focus more on these programs that take them and appropriately dispose of them.”
The dolphins that were evaluated came from several locations along the Mississippi and Texas coasts.
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