Monday April 14, 2025
The Economic Times —
In a bizarre twist that sounds more like science fiction than science fact, wild Atlantic salmon are swimming faster than ever—thanks to pharmaceutical drugs meant for humans. According to a report from the New York Post, a groundbreaking new study has revealed that traces of sleeping pills and painkillers, seeping into rivers from human waste, are altering the behavior of these endangered fish during their critical migration journeys.
Scientists studying Sweden’s River Dal found that juvenile salmon exposed to clobazam—a drug typically prescribed for sleep disorders—navigated hydropower dams quicker than their drug-free counterparts. The medication didn’t just speed up their travel time; it also significantly improved their chances of successfully reaching the sea. But what sounds like good news for the fish might actually be a warning sign for ecosystems worldwide.
Conducted by an international team led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and published in Science, the study marks the most extensive real-world investigation into pharmaceutical pollution’s impact on wildlife. Dr. Marcus Michelangeli of Australia’s Griffith University, a key researcher on the project, stressed that while the findings may appear beneficial at first glance, the behavioral shifts they signal could be deeply problematic.