"Oxycodone that entered Puget Sound contaminated shellfish tissue, scientists found."
"People in the greater Seattle area are consuming so many opioids that, for the first time, scientists have detected traces of the drugs in mussels in local waters.
Mussels from three of 18 locations near Seattle and Bremerton in Washington’s Puget Sound tested positive for the opioid oxycodone, according to the Puget Sound Institute at the University of Washington Tacoma. The mussels were contaminated because sewage from opioid consumers ended up in the sound after being treated at wastewater plants, scientists explained.
“What we eat and what we excrete goes into the Puget Sound,” Jennifer Lanksbury, a biologist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, told CBS affiliate KIRO-7 in Seattle. “It’s telling me there’s a lot of people taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound area.”"
Mary Papenfuss reports for HuffPost May 25, 2018.
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