The effects of the opioid epidemic may not be limited to humans, dolphins have been found to have fentanyl in their systems.

A large proportion of bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico have been found to have human drugs in their bodies, including fentanyl, muscle relaxants and sedatives, according to a study published in the journal. iScience.

Dolphins are thought to have accumulated these drugs from eating the fish and shrimp that we also eat, suggesting that there could be risks to human health from environmental drugs.

In their study, Orbach and colleagues took fatty tissue samples from 89 dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Sound, six of which were found dead. They found that 30 dolphins had some form of the drug in their bodies and 18 dolphins had fentanyl in their bodies. All six dead dolphins contained fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the CDC. This high level is effective in managing severe pain, but also increases the risk of overdose.

Synthetic opioids — primarily fentanyl — were responsible for 68 percent of all overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2022, compared to nearly 24 times the number of overdose deaths from synthetic opioids in 2013.

Other drugs found in the dolphins included carisoprodol – a skeletal muscle relaxant – and the anxiety drug meprobamate.

“The amount of fentanyl we detected in dolphins was very small, although we don’t know how much would be lethal. Most of the drug was found in dolphins in areas of extensive human-induced stressors such as dredging, chemical pollution, shipping and noise.” Stressors can have cumulative effects and compromise the immune response and survival of dolphins,” Orbach said.

The presence of these drugs in the bodies of dolphins is concerning because they are a good indicator of the overall health of the ecosystem as a whole.

“Dolphins are often used as bioindicators of ecosystem health in contaminant research because of their blubber-rich blubber, which can store contaminants and can be collected relatively minimally invasively in live animals,” Orbach said in a statement.

“We found one dead dolphin in Baffin Bay in South Texas within a year of the largest liquid fentanyl explosion in US history in a neighboring county. And Mississippi dolphins accounted for 40 percent of our total pharmaceutical detections, which leads us to believe that.” is a long-term problem in the marine environment.”

Interestingly, the researchers found higher levels of the drugs in dolphins that lived in areas with other risks, including oil spills, shipping and algal blooms.

This study, Orbach concluded, “highlights the need for proactive monitoring of emerging contaminants, particularly in regions with large human populations and significant fishing or aquaculture industries.”

“We need to do more research across the marine food web to understand the extent of pharmaceutical contamination of marine life, including fish and seafood. Dolphins eat the same fish and seafood we do, so if they’re taking pharmaceuticals through fish/seafood.” consumption, we can be too,” Orbach said.

Update 12/11/2024 12:50 PM This story has been updated with comments from Dara Orbach.

Reference

Ocampos, AI, Guinn, MA, Elliott, J., Wittmaack, C., Sinclair, C., Abdulla, H., & Orbach, DN (2024). Medicines in the blubber of live free-swimming bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). iScience111507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111507