What Happens When Fish go on "The Pill" and Other Pharmaceuticals?
Schindler Professorship Lecture in Aquatic Science welcomes Dr. Karen Kidd
Event Details
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Thursday, November 29, 2018
7:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Building: Room 114
Cost: Free
It appears that the pharmaceuticals that we use – pain killers, birth control, antiepileptic drugs, antibiotics, heart medications, etc. – and excrete are not completely broken down during the treatment of municipal wastewaters. These drugs are found in rivers and lakes and some affect the health of fish and other aquatic life. For example, estrogens in the birth control pills can feminize male fish, resulting in their production of eggs and reproductive failure. This talk will describe how commonly-used medications affect aquatic life and what can be done to reduce the risks they pose to our aquatic ecosystems.
Dr. Karen Kidd is a leading and internationally-renowned researcher, who studies how municipal, industrial and other anthropogenic activities impact the health of aquatic organisms and food web structure, and the fate of persistent contaminants in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Karen previously held a Tier 1 Canada research chair in chemical contamination of food webs at the University of New Brunswick. She led the seminal research on estrogen impacts on ecosystems at the Experimental Lakes Area and was co-editor of an international United Nations Environment Program and World Health Organization report on the state-of-the-science on endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Prof. Kidd is currently the Jarislowsky Chair in Environment and Health, in the Department of Biology and the School of Geography and Earth Science at McMaster University.