Fish ‘full of contraceptive pill, antidepressants and cocaine’ after sewage spills

A marine biologist studying Hampshire’s Langstone Harbour has revealed raw sewage from a nearby treatment plant has left every marine species in the water “full of drugs”.

New data from the Environment Agency to be released on Wednesday 27 March is expected to show that sewage spills rose to a record high last year.

“The sewage treatment plant behind us takes in the waste of half a million people, and when it can’t cope with it, it chucks it out here,” Professor Alex Ford told Good Morning Britain.

“In the marine life, we are finding they are full of drugs - contraceptive pills, antidepressants - every single marine species that we’ve looked at so far is full of cocaine.”