Researchers at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute found the drug in the livers and muscles of 13 sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii), according to a study published in the journal “Science of The Total Environment.” The data indicate the large quantities of the drug consumed in the city and disposed of in the sea via sewage, it was said.
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“Studies in Brazil have already shown that water and some aquatic organisms, such as mussels, have been contaminated by cocaine. Our analysis is the first to find the substance in sharks,” says pharmacist Enrico Mendes Saggioro, one of the researchers responsible for the discovery along with biologist Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis. According to the biologist, sharks play a central role as predators in the food chain in the marine ecosystem – they can be used to detect environmental damage, including various forms of pollution.
One of the world’s largest cocaine consumers
According to the latest World Drug Report published in 2024 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Brazil is one of the largest consumers of cocaine in the world. According to the available studies, researchers assume that the drug enters the sea mainly through the disposal of cocaine waste in sewage.
Specific studies are needed to determine the exact consequences of cocaine exposure for the animals. “It is suspected that it affects the growth, maturation and possibly the fertility of the sharks, as the liver is involved in the development of embryos,” says biologist Hauser-Davis.
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Source: Nachrichten
