Paracetamol rivers: drug pollution threatens human health

The world's rivers are heavily polluted by various drugs and other pharmaceutical products, and this poses a threat to both the environment and human health - these are the results of a large study conducted by British scientists, reports with the BBC.

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In a large study organized by the University of York, scientists found that most often traces of paracetamol, drugs for epilepsy and diabetes, as well as nicotine and caffeine can be found in the rivers of the world.

The most polluted rivers are in countries such as Pakistan, Bolivia and Ethiopia. The least abundant are the rivers of Iceland, Norway and the Amazon.

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York University study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has become one of the largest in this area: 258 rivers in 100 countries, more than a thousand sampling sites.

The so-called “active substances” from the drugs were found in concentrations dangerous for river flora and fauna in more than a quarter of the rivers covered.

Most often, pollution was predictably found in poor countries, in places where sewage treatment is poor, and where pharmaceutical plants are located.

“We see very high concentrations of pharmaceuticals in rivers in Nigeria and South Africa, which is due to a lack of treatment facilities,” says researcher Mohammed Abdalla from the University of Birmingham. As a result, as Abdallah notes, the greatest danger is faced by people who also do not have access to quality medical care.

True, scientists admit that the influence of the most common chemical compounds from medicines on the ecology of rivers has so far been studied rather poorly.

“We can say that the impact is likely to be negative, but every pharmaceutical drug needs to be tested, and there have been relatively few such studies,” said water ecologist Veronica Edmonds-Brown from the University of Hertfordshire.

But it is already known, for example, that contraceptives dissolved in water can affect the reproduction and growth of fish.

In addition, the report says that the contamination of rivers with antibiotics can lead to a decrease in their effectiveness: antibiotic-resistant bacteria develop in water with antibiotics. This is one aspect of the threat that drug pollution poses to human health.

“What usually happens with medications is that we take these chemicals, they have the desired effect on our body and then they are eliminated from the body. And now we know that even the most modern wastewater treatment plants cannot completely break down these compounds, and they end up in rivers and lakes,” said study leader John Wilkinson.

The two most commonly found drugs in river water were carbamazepine, which is used to treat epilepsy, and metformin, which is used to treat diabetes.

In addition, high concentrations of paracetamol, caffeine, and nicotine were common.

In Africa, the “leader group” also included artemisinin, which is contained in anti-malaria drugs.

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When asked what to do about pharmaceutical pollution in rivers, study leader John Wilkinson does not yet have an optimistic answer.

“We need a lot of people much smarter than me to take on the problem,” says Dr. Wilkinson. “But there is something that can be done now: we can start using the drugs correctly.”

The scientist means that people should tighten the rules for access to antibiotics and reduce their dosage.

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