We’re starting to think that just MAYbe, all the chemicals ‘n’ shit in our soap, makeup, birth control, and antidepressants are bad for the environment. (Wild, right?!) Because it seems like basically everything you pee out or rinse down the drain ends up right back in your drinking water — that, or messing up fish. This time, medicated dandruff shampoos are to blame.
Dandruff shampoos keep dead skin outta your hair with fungicide, which is less fun and more -icidal than you’d hope. Wastewater treatment plants aren’t good at filtering it out, so it ends up killing algae and messing up the growth of fish and big plants. Scientific American has the scoop:
Now a study has detected fungicides from anti-dandruff shampoos in the water. And even at concentrations as low as 0.5 micrograms per liter of H2O such fungicides can hurt many organisms, from tiny algae to big plants and fish. The study is in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
According to the study’s abstract, fungicides made water lentils’ fronds smaller, among other things. We didn’t know water lentils were a thing, but now we’re picturing little frowny lentils wearing a scuba mask. Thanks for ruining our favorite winter soup, Head and Shoulders.
