Outdoors | Take caution with what’s on your line Medical drugs
find their way into fish species Philosophical types might
ponder whether mind expansion or mind contraction is at work,
though it seems true that drugs in the water push some fish
species into altered states. Yellow perch, a favorite of Lake
Erie fishermen, potentially are among the affected. “Normally,
perch are shy and hunt in schools. This is a known strategy for
survival and growth. But those who swim in oxazepam became
considerably bolder,” said ecologist Tomas Brodin, lead author
of an article in the journal Science based on a study conducted
at Sweden’s Umea University. Oxazepam, a drug related to the
anti-anxiety medication Xanax, is prescribed most often as a
sleep aid. The drugs fall under the class of benzodiazepines,
which include tranquilizers Librium and Valium. Xanax was
prescribed 44 million times in the United States in 2009. In
short, there’s a lot of stuff like that in the water. Water
treatment doesn’t affect its presence, whi