Involved Member: Prof. Kenneth Mei Yee LEUNG

Despite growing evidence of the deleterious effects on ecological and human health, little is known regarding the global occurrence of pharmaceuticals in rivers. Studies assessing their occurrence are only available for 75 of 196 countries, with most research conducted in North America and Western Europe. This leaves large geographical regions relatively unstudied. Here, the study team presented the findings of a global reconnaissance of pharmaceutical pollution in rivers. The study monitored 1,052 sampling sites along 258 rivers in 104 countries of all continents, thus representing the pharmaceutical fingerprint of 471.4 million people. The results show that the presence of these contaminants in surface water poses a threat to environmental and human health in more than a quarter of the studied locations globally.

Reference:

Wilkinson, J.L., Boxall, A.B.A., Kolpin, D.W., Leung, K.M.Y., Lai, R.W.S., Galban-Malagon, C., et al., (2022). Pharmaceutical Pollution of the World’s Rivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119, 2113947119. (impact factor 12.779)