Dolphins indicate seas at riskBy Bo Petersen (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Dolphins tested in Lowcountry waters are exposed to so many antibiotics from sewage discharge that they are growing bacteria strong enough to resist the medications. That worries researchers and advocates who consider the mammals a sentinel species for detecting threats to ocean and human health. Nearly two-thirds of 23 dolphin tested in the waters around Charleston Harbor, Wando and Stono rivers carried the bacteria in a study recently released by the National Ocean Service Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research at Fort Johnson. Drugs in the waterInteractive AP graphic on drugs in the water. The antibiotics the bacteria resisted were everyday prescription drugs such as penicillin and amoxicillin. The widespread use of antibiotics by people is thought to be causing bacteria to mutate into strains strong enough to overcome the antibiotics, leading to diseases that can overrun natural immune systems and no longer be treated by antibiotic medicines. "Thirty-nine percent of these dolphins had multiple antibiotics in their bodies," Geoff Scott, director of the biomedical research center, told the S.C. Natural Resources board in a presentation. The study referred to earlier studies showing antibiotics don't break down in wastewater treatment and antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been found near treatment plants. "There are four wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Charleston Harbor, with an additional six that discharge into the surrounding Ashley, Wando, and Cooper Rivers or their tributaries. Similarly, there are five major hospitals operating within or near the city of Charleston," the study noted. "Thus, there are numerous potential sources for both low-level chronic exposures to anti-microbial agents and bacteria strains resistant to anti-microbials." The study was one in a number of ongoing research projects into estuary and ocean health and the impact on humans at Fort Johnson. The Hollings Marine Laboratory, National Ocean Services lab, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and the Medical University of South Carolina all have taken part in the research. In a complementary study of 90 dolphins tested in Charleston Harbor that had traces of pollutants such as flame retardants or stain repellents, nearly half weren't considered healthy. Those compounds — found in a host of products — are considered "persistent organic chemicals," because they don't break down in sewage treatment. "It's not just pharmaceuticals that end up in the oceans, most of the chemicals that we use every day ultimately end up in our oceans or elsewhere in the environment, and they have effects," said Jackie Savitz, pollution campaign director for environmental advocate Oceana. "Animals like dolphins and whales are the top of a very long marine food chain, and frankly so are we. So the dolphins are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, because they show us what is also happening to us ultimately." Reach Bo Petersen at bpetersen@postandcourier.com or 745-5852. |
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Comments
This article has 7 comment(s)
Posted by lexylady on March 11, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That remark about antibiotics not breaking down at waste water treatment plants has me wondering what else doesn't break down!!!!!!!!!??
I feel reasonably certain that someone will come up with a magical solution to this problem, (if in fact it really is a problem), so they can once again hit us in the pocketbook. I find it very difficult to believe that they are just now discovering this! If they are just discovering it, then someone has been very lax for a very long time in not discovering it sooner.
Posted by crankyyankee on March 11, 2008 at 9:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Al Gore is working on this problem as we speak!
Posted by little_green_person on March 11, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We all have to work on it or it will be too late if it isn't already.
The irony of being the most technologically advanced generation on record and doing some of the most damage to our own environment is scary.
Did anyone see the AP story on the Native Americans meeting in Mexico? There was reference to the theory that deforestation was what destroyed the advanced Mayan culture.
I would really like to have DHEC and the EPA go on legal record and say whether or not they consider our seafood "safe."
Posted by mle17 on March 11, 2008 at 1:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
While the issue of pharmaceuticals residues entering the environment from wastewater treatment, as well as other sources, is a real and ubiquitous issue, the reporter should get the science correct before writing an inaccurate article that spreads misinformation to the public. It is not yet known if the low, chronic concentrations found in the environment are able to cause resistance. There is indirect evidence that exposure to antibiotics has brought about the resistance of bacteria in the environment. However, a recently completed study showed that there was no correlation between the presence of antibiotics in the wastewater and fecal coliform bacteria resistant those antibiotics in the wastewater. Further understanding of how resistance is acquired and maintained in bacterial populations is needed before a link between the presence of antibiotics in the environment and antibiotic resistance can be made. Bacteria with resistance to antibiotics likely come from the exposure of the fecal bacteria to antibiotics in our bodies. When those resistant bacteria are excreted, and resistance is then be transferred to other bacteria in the environment. The statement that "Dolphins tested in Lowcountry waters are exposed to so many antibiotics from sewage discharge that they are growing bacteria strong enough to resist the medications" is quite a jump, and cannot be backed up by any current science. In fact, why would it even matter if they were "growing" bacteria that were resistant to medications? The concern about antibiotics in the environment is that human and animal health control measures are compromised if pathogens are no longer treatable with antibiotics. However, wild dolphin populations are not likely to ever need or receive treatment for infections with antibiotics. Therefore, there really is no harm to their health if they have antibiotic resistant bacteria present in their bodies. Not that there is no concern for the health of all aquatic organisms from the chronic exposure to low levels of pharmaceuticals. However, it is the physiological and developmental effects of trace contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, that are the issue.
Posted by seriouslyb4real on March 11, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
IT WILL WORK OUT !
Posted by rollo on March 11, 2008 at 7:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
AS I understood from reports the other day(isn't it odd how this report comes out right after the ABC report that drinking water may contain pharmaceuticals) the chemicals in question, however, were described to be "Parts Per Trillion". I don't know how much water a trillion molecules is, but I bet it's a lot!
In fact, I'm going to go and look that up!
Posted by rollo on March 12, 2008 at 10:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Little Green...
The irony is that we've been drinking this same water, treated with the same processes, for over 30 years!
In that time period the average life expectancy has INCREASED! Increased by @ 8 years! The greatest leap in such a short period of time ever in history!!!
Obviously we are not being harmed.