Over the past few years, the increasing and uncontrolled use of pharmaceutical substances in agriculture, fish farming, human health and in veterinary medicine, together with an improper use of out-of-date medicines, has led to a consequent increase in the environmental problems linked to their disposal. In some Italian waste water treatment plants were found furosemide, a diuretic; ranitidine, an antiulcer drug; bezafibrate, a lipid regulator and ibuprofen, a painkiller. The present paper shows, by means of the synergic application of three tests (the Comet Test, the Diffusion Assay and the RAPD-PCR technique), how the DNA of zebrafish can be damaged after exposure to the above mentioned drugs. The data from the Comet Test, the Diffusion Assay and the RAPD-PCR technique were generally in agreement; these results show that all four drugs are genotoxic.
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