Hi folks,

despite being an FT addict, I also have a day job that keeps the internet going. Here's a short clip from last night's edition of The Project - a popular mixed serious/light-hearted current affairs show in Australia on which my former PhD student, now a post-doctoral fellow in my research group, Dr Erinn Richmond talks about pharmaceuticals in waterways.


https://tendaily.com.au/shows/theproject...supply-20181107

It is likely that many can't open this due to geographic restrictions on content, so in that case, here's a link to the front page story in yesterday's Age (daily newspaper in Melbourne)

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victo...105-p50e1c.html


(Unfortunately my quotes got cut out of this story - here's our press release:

https://www.monash.edu/science/news/current/medicated-rivers-and-waterways,-a-risk-for-stream-animals,-study-find

Hopefully everyone can see/read at least one of these. This is not just a local story, it's almost certainly relevant no matter where you live!

cheers,
Mike

p.s. the plural of platypus is platypuses (NOT platypi!)

Oh, my! That is very concerning.

I wonder if some of the drugs come not from urine, but from improper disposal? For years, I was told that the way to dispose of unwanted/unused/expired drugs was to flush them down the toilet

Absolutely they do also come from incorrect disposal of unused medications, postie! Flushing them down the toilet is definitely a bad thing to do.

One of our responses when asked what can individuals do about this is to emphasize returning unused medications to the pharmacy. I Australia (not sure about elsewhere) there is a 'Return Unused Medicines' scheme, where such medicines can be returned without any charge.

Human excretion though is the biggest source. We are certainly not for a moment advocating people not take their medication - that would be catastrophic. We're just highlighting that there is an environmental 'cost' to the massive benefits that correctly prescribed medications provide.