For the first time, the University of York in the United Kingdom has led an international study on the drug pollution of rivers. This study, in which theINRAE, involving more than 80 research institutes, analyzed the pollution of 258 rivers in around 100 countries on five continents. Their work also shows that the most polluted rivers are those that cross developing countries. Medicines have become part of daily life and health for many people around the world. But what happens once they are eliminated from our body?
Developing countries more prone to drug pollution
Currently, the finding of drug pollution is already known and documented in northern countries, but no global study on the subject had been carried out until now. Thus, 1052 samples were taken from 258 rivers around the world, including regions never studied before. The result is clear: South America, sub-Saharan Africa and certain parts of South Asia are the regions most affected by drug pollution of waterways. This is explained by the lack of efficiency, or even the absence, of wastewater treatment and the presence of drug production plants. In addition, the poorer a country is economically, the more its waters are polluted.
Unpredictable environmental impact
Drugs ingested by humans are released naturally into sewage, and thus later into rivers. The impact of drugs on biodiversity remains unknown. They might disrupt the ecosystems and life cycles of aquatic species. The drugs taken by the researchers also reflect the most widely used in pharmaceuticals: antibiotics, analgesics, anti-inflammatories, antihistamines, antidiabetics, antidepressants, stimulants (such as caffeine). According to the study, all of the rivers analyzed are “contaminated with drug residues” and “a quarter of the sites sampled present levels of pollution that are potentially dangerous for aquatic biodiversity. » Research on the presence of drug residues might be applied in the future to other environments, such as soils or living organisms themselves.
Romane Pijulet
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