Medications Induce Autism in Fish

Given that the majority of all waterways and sources of water worldwide are contaminated with drug residues, and in many instances the original drug itself, it's easy to see how our exposures to these contaminants grows and grows. According to studies done by the Environmental Working Group, children are being born pre-polluted. In testing for the presence of just over 400 chemicals in newborns, an average of 200 chemicals (about 50%) were found per baby. The problem is that there are over 140,000 chemicals in the environment. How many of these would show up if we tested for all of them - 1,000, 10,000, more? If we then give the babies antibiotics and destroy the protective effects of healthy intestinal bacteria against chemicals in the environment, the effect of these chemicals increases. If we then vaccinate these babies and alter the immune system response, more damage is likely. All of these substances can be present in water systems, and no public water filtration system can filter them out. This study shows that Prozac, Effexor, and Tegretol can induce autism spectrum disorders in fish - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120606193853.htm


Psychoactive medications in water affect the gene expression profiles of fathead minnows in a way that mimics the gene expression patterns associated with autism spectrum disorder in genetically susceptible humans, according to research published June 6 in the open access journal PLoS ONE. These results suggest a potential environmental trigger for autism spectrum disorder in this vulnerable population, the authors write.

The researchers, led by Michael A. Thomas of Idaho State University, exposed the fish to three psychoactive pharmaceuticals -- fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or SSR1; venlafaxine, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, and carbamazepine, used to control seizures -- at concentrations comparable to the highest estimated environmental levels.

They found that the only gene expression patterns affected were those associated with idiopathic autism spectrum disorders, caused by genetic susceptibility interacting with unknown environmental triggers. These results suggest that exposure to environmental psychoactive pharmaceuticals may play a role in the development of autism spectrum disorder in genetically predisposed individuals.

Lead researcher Michael A. Thomas remarks, "While others have envisioned a causal role for psychotropic drugs in idiopathic autism, we were astonished to find evidence that this might occur at very low dosages, such as those found in aquatic systems." Tweet