A study conducted by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil has found cocaine in sharks.
Marine biologists announced that high levels of cocaine were detected in the muscles and lungs of 13 sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. It was noted that the drug level was 100 times higher than in other sharks previously living in the water.
Sara Novais, a marine eco-toxicologist at the Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences at the Polytechnic University of Leiria, said the findings were "very important and worrying".
Experts said that all of the female sharks tested were pregnant and it is not yet known what effect the cocaine detected in the sharks had on the fetus. Experts also said that whether cocaine causes a change in the sharks' behavior needs to be examined.
COCAINE DUMPED INTO THE SEA BY CARTELS
Experts say the cocaine may have been thrown into the sea by drug cartels to evade the police, or that cocaine produced in illegal laboratories may have gotten into the sea.
However, previous studies have shown that drugs have the same effects on animals as on humans.
