Common medications, as well as illegal drugs, released into the environment can damage ecosystems and interfere with the growth and behaviour of animals and plants. The medicines that make us well are having untold impacts on nature, says a news piece from the Natural History Museum. After entering the water through sewage systems, rainwater runoff and factory discharges, […]
Pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors increasingly contaminate the world’s freshwaters. New research provides direct evidence of their transfer from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems via the consumption of aquatic insects by terrestrial predators such as spiders, birds and bats. This exposure may have negative impacts on the physiology and population dynamics of predators, suggesting a need for […]
The release of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in waste water from treatment plants (WWTPs) is currently not regulated anywhere in the world, with the exception of a few plants in Switzerland. Yet thousands of PhACs or their by-products — excreted by humans — can be found in waste water and some of these may harm […]