



Gyms' sewers overflowing with steroids



Huge quantities of steroids and amphetamines are discharged from gym toilets into the sewage system. Researchers at Aachen University in Germany discovered this when they analysed the wastewater from two gyms in the town of Aachen. Fortunately amphetamines and the steroids that are popular right now are not a burden on the environment. Italian researchers, for example, noticed in 2008 that the concentration of coke in the Milan sewers increased considerably during the weekends. [Environ Health Perspect. 2008 Aug; 116(8): 1027-32.] Nice information for a short piece on the science news pages, but it raises a more serious question: are these substances broken down by wastewater treatment? In Milan this was not the case for many party drugs. [Water Res. 2008 Feb; 42(4-5): 961-8.] The researchers in Aachen looked at substances used by chemical bodybuilders, and measured the amounts found on four occasions in the wastewater from two gyms. And bingo, they found large concentrations of boldenone, methyl testosterone, amphetamines en ephedrine – as well as diuretics like furosemide [Lasix] and hydrochlorothiazide.







The researchers then examined the wastewater that arrived at water treatment plants [feed] and the treated wastewater [effluent] that left the treatment plants. The researchers did indeed find some steroids in the feed wastewater, but the amount was low in comparison with the amount of amphetamines and diuretics. They realised that only a small proportion of the substances comes from bodybuilders' urine.







The steroids and amphetamines were not found in the effluent from the wastewater treatment plants. They had been broken down. This had not happened to the diuretics. So it's not chemical athletes who are the problem – but heart patients. After all, most diuretics users are heart patients. Their medicines are not broken down by wastewater treatment plants, so these just remain in the environment. And what happens to them there? We don't know. "But it's high time that we find out", the Germans conclude. Source:

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2010 Jul 21. [Epub ahead of print].







