— from Associated Press —
Scientists who track pollution have discovered traces of the pain reliever oxycodone in some Puget Sound mussels.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife obtained clean mussels from Penn Cove on Whidbey Island and put them in different areas to test for water contamination, KIRO-TV reported this week.
Scientists worked with the Puget Sound Institute to analyze the data and discovered three out of 18 locations came back positive for trace amounts of oxycodone.
Two were near Bremerton’s shipyard and one was in Elliot Bay near Harbor Island in Seattle.
Puget Sound Institute scientist Andy James, who assisted with the study, said the areas where the oxycodone-tainted mussels were sampled are considered highly urbanized and are not near commercial shellfish beds.
Seems to me there ought to be some concern for effects on the mussels, and any other organisms that are ingesting this stuff – not just whether we are ingesting THEM