WACO, Texas, April 11 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have developed a technology that can, for the first time, screen fish for several groups of drugs at the same time.

The test was created by Baylor University scientists amid growing concern about the accumulation of pharmaceutical and personal care products in fish and other aquatic organisms.

Lead researcher C. Kevin Chambliss and colleagues said previous tests for detecting pharmaceutical and personal care products in water, sediment and other environmental material, could identify only individual medications or classes of medications, such as antibiotics. Also, there were just a few methods for measuring certain drug residues in fish tissue.

The new technology has been used to identify drug residues in fish from the sunfish family living in a Texas creek composed nearly entirely of effluent from a sewage treatment plant. The drugs included three medications never before identified in fish: diphenydramine, an over-the-counter antihistamine also used as a sedative in non-prescription sleep aids; diltiazem, a drug for high blood pressure; and cabamazepine, an anti-convulsant.

The research is to appear in the April 15 edition of the journal Analytical Chemistry.

ScienceDaily.com