Page 19 - IAV Digital Magazine #599

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Sharks Off Brazil Coast Test Positive For Cocaine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ADmoMg0oc
By Dylan Donnelly, Sky News
Sharks in waters off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine, scientists say.
Researchers have long sug- gested that sea life could be impacted by drugs dumped into the water by smugglers, with tonnes of cocaine found around Florida, South and Central America.
A study from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil has now found evidence sharks are in fact being affected by drugs polluting the ocean.
The scientists dis- sected 13 wild Brazilian sharp-
nose sharks that were bought from small fishing ves- sels, as the species spend their entire lives in coastal waters and were there- fore most likely to be affected by pollution.
Muscle and liver tissue were then tested using a standard tech- nique called liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry - where molecules are separated in a liquid - to look for cocaine and ben- zoylecgonine, the main metabolite in the drug.
All 13 sharks were positive for the drug, with a concentration as much as 100 times higher than previously report- ed for other aquatic creatures, the scientists
found.
It marks the first study to find the presence of cocaine in free- range sharks, and found the sub- stance was more prevalent in mus- cle tissue than in the shark's livers.
However, the study said the field of research was "very limited" and the impact of cocaine or ben- zoylecgonine on aquatic life is not fully known.
The research was published in the outlet Science of the Total Environment.
In June last year, the US Coast Guard seized more than 14,100 pounds (6,400 kg) of cocaine in
the Caribbean Se a and Atlantic Ocean, with an estimated value of $186m (£142m).
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