Almost HALF of the world’s rivers contain dangerous levels of prescription drugs

When you think of pollution in rivers, it’s likely visions of plastic bottles and packaging will spring to mind.

But a new study has warned that almost half of the world’s rivers are also teeming with prescription drugs.

Researchers from the University of York found unsafe levels of drugs including antidepressants, antihistamines, and painkillers in 43.5 per cent of 1,052 sites tested across 104 countries.

‘Our findings show that a very high proportion of rivers around the world are at threat from pharmaceutical pollution,’ said Alejandra Bouzas-Monroy, a co-author of the study.

‘We should therefore be doing much more to reduce the emissions of these substances into the environment.’

Over 100,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical products are consumed globally every year, according to the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).  

During their production, use, and disposal, pharmaceutical drugs are released into rivers, where they have the potential to adversely affect organisms including fish and aquatic plants.

In the study, the team set out to understand the extent of this pharmaceutical pollution around the world.

‘This is the first truly global assessment of the impacts of single pharmaceuticals and mixtures of pharmaceuticals in riverine systems,’ Ms Bouzas-Monroy said.

The team sampled water at 1,052 sites across 104 countries including the UK, Australia, France, and the USA.

The results revealed that 43.5 per cent of the sites had ‘concerning’ concentrations of 23 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

This included substances from antidepressants, antimicrobials, antihistamines, benzodiazepine and painkillers.

The sites with the highest levels were situated in Africa – with a river in Nairobi having the highest levels of all the sites, according to the researchers.

‘The locations with the highest mixture HQs were situated in Africa and were primarily associated with three sampling campaigns (Lagos in Nigeria, Nairobi in Kenya, and Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) where garbage disposal, sewage discharge points, dumping of raw sewage by exhauster trucks, and pharmaceutical manufacturing activities were observed,’ the researchers wrote.

In Asia, the highest levels were in Lahore, in South America they were in La Paz, and in Europe they were in Tubingen.

Worryingly, previous studies have shown how exposure to high levels of APIs can affect organisms including fish and algae.

‘For example, concentrations of antibiotics in surface waters have been shown to exceed PNEC [predicted no‐effect concentrations] values in European and Chinese surface,’ the researchers explained.

‘The anticonvulsant carbamazepine has been reported to occur at concentrations of concern for acute and chronic effects in fish, Daphnia, and algae in Africa, China, and Israel. 

‘Stimulants have been highlighted as a group of concern in terms of aquatic impacts in Poland, Israel, China and Italy.’

The researchers hope their findings will encourage nations to take better action to tackle pharmaceutical pollution in rivers around the world.

‘Overall, the results show that API pollution is a global problem that is likely negatively affecting the health of the world’s rivers,’ the team concluded.

‘Work is urgently needed to tackle the problem and bring concentrations down to an acceptable level.’ 

Worryingly, studies have shown that the presence of antibiotics in the environment contributes to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the major emerging threats to human health today. 

‘AMR burden in terms of lives lost, morbidity, and healthcare expenses and productivity losses is much greater than currently available statistics suggest – 25,000 deaths in 2007 – and projections estimate a 15 fold increase in morbidity in Europe due to AMR by 2050 with 390,000 deaths,’ the EEB said.