Susanna Reid was left gobsmacked after a marine expert told her that fish are full of cocaine. Professor Alex Ford was on Good Morning Britain to talk about the side effects of water pollution.
The marine biologist from Portsmouth University said waters he analysed off the Hampshire coast contained drugs, contraceptive pills and anti-depressants. "Every single marine species that we've looked at so far is full of cocaine," he said.
"The sewage treatment plant takes in the waste of half a million people - and when it can't cope it, it chucks it straight out here and in the marine life beneath our feet, we are actually finding they are full of drugs. They are full of concentrative pill, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication."
A gobsmacked Susanna could not believe what she had heard. She said: “Sorry, can I just ask you to clarify with your expert there, if your expert is still there, every marine species is full of cocaine, did he say? What?"
Prof Ford answered: "Yes. exactly. The drugs affect this wildlife in the same way they do affect us. If you give a fish a contraceptive pill, it starts to feminise. If you give a crab anti-depressants, it changes their behaviour because those drugs were designed to change behaviour.
"If you give them illegal drugs as well, it actually has very much the same effect on them as it would do on people as well."
It comes as new figures showed how much the UK's water infrastructure was struggling to cope with increased demand and more wet weather. According to the Environment Agency, the number of sewage spills in England’s rivers and seas more than doubled in a year: there were 3.6 million hours of spills in 2023, compared to 1.75 million in 2022.
Water companies are permitted to discharge untreated sewage into waterways in exceptional circumstances, such as during the heavy rain. The overflow systems are used to protect homes and businesses from flooding, and the water companies say only a small percentage of the discharge is wastewater.
