Traces of cocaine, ecstasy getting into Balaton – festivals threaten wildlife

A new study has examined how the surge in drug use during the Balaton Sound is affecting the state of the lake’s wildlife. Continue reading below to find out more. The results are shocking.  The scientific work, reviewed by Qubit, with the participation of a total of 8 Hungarian authors. It was published in January 2021 in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, in English. You may read the research paper by clicking here. Between 2017 and 2019, Hungarian researchers tested the water of Lake Balaton at Zamárdi, in the Balaton Sound area. They were at three monitoring points relatively close to the lakeshore (35 metres). There were two more distant control points (6-8 kilometres away). Measurements were taken at several different times: 3 months (April) and one week (June) before the festival. Additional monitoring was done one day (July), one month (August) and 4 months (November) after the Balaton Sound festival.

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Balaton wildlife in danger

In total, 10 traces of illicit drugs were detected in the water samples, and almost all of them were present in the water only on the days after the festival, so there is likely a link between the event and drug use. The highest concentrations of cocaine, ketamine and the main active substance in ecstasy, 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), were detected. The researchers found that most of the drugs “retained their pharmacological effects in water, which could have potentially harmful effects on wildlife”. The effects of such substances impact aquatic wildlife catastrophically. The substances can exert the following effects:

• Amphetamine can also be toxic to rainbow trout and large brown trout, but can also affect the chlorophyll content of algae.
• Cocaine and its metabolites damage the DNA of mussels, alter the behavioural pattern of the zebrafish, and damage the skeletal structure of the European eel – the latter at concentrations as low as 20 nanograms per litre, while levels close to 270 ng/l were measured one day after Balaton Sound.
• Methamphetamine significantly impairs long-term memory formation in the large marsh snail.

Balaton Sound shakes the ground

Thursday, 30 June, was the most crowded day at Balaton Sound, according to the Kövesligethy Seismological Observatory, writes Index. The observatory published seismological data on the geological effects of the Balaton Sound Festival on its Facebook page. The post says that it is clear that after two years the music is roaring again in Zamárdi and the fans are jumping at the same time because the observations, made at the measuring station in Tihany, show that the festival has an earth-shaking effect.

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Source: qubit.hu, index.hu