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fessor, Stockholm University SUSTA INABI L I T Y as well as high local unemployment and poverty rates. The researchers also found that the most polluted countries and regions of the world are the ones that have been researched the least (namely sub-Saharan Africa, South America and parts of southern Asia) and that the activities most associated with the highest levels of pharmaceutical pollution included rubbish dumping along river banks, inadequate wastewater infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and the dumping of the contents of residual septic tanks into rivers. They also found that a quarter of the sites contained contaminants (such as sulfamethoxazole, propranolol, ciprofloxacin and loratadine) at potentially harmful concentrations. The researchers hope that by increasing the monitoring of pharmaceuticals in the environment, they can develop strategies to limit the effects potentially caused by the presence of pollutants. rivers in over half of the world’s countries to measure the presence of 61 pharmaceuticals, such as carbamazepine, metformin and caffeine. Notably, rivers in 36 of these countries had never previously been monitored for pharmaceuticals. 18 The analysis found that pharmaceutical pollution is contaminating water on every continent. There are strong correlations between the socioeconomic status of a country and higher pollution of pharmaceuticals in its rivers (with lower-middle income nations the most polluted), and high levels of pharmaceutical pollution was most positively associated with regions of high median age “This study enables us to understand the connection between consumption and waste disposal. Since we clearly show that access to sewage treatment facilities significantly improves water quality, I hope the study will lead to projects that support and expand sewage treatment where it is needed the most. In addition, the findings of this study remind us that the medicines we buy in pharmacies can have a big impact on the environment of the countries they are manufactured in,” says Anna Sobek, professor and co-author of the study, Stockholm University. NLS NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG PHOTO RICKARD KILSTRÖM