During the plague years I have often mentioned that things like virus fragments can be readily detected in wastewater, and that with the same methodology researchers can also describe the distribution of drug use, eg for cocaine. This is quite routine now, but what amazingly hasn't been done very often is to look at the impact our drugs - including the legal as well as the illegal kind - have on ecosystems when they escape into the water systems. The first global survey attempting to estimate the impacts of drug pollution in the environment only happened two years ago. So I thought this endeavour could do with a bit of a shout-out, which is why it is the subject of my latest feature, out now:
Drugging the biosphere
Current Biology Volume 34, Issue 13, 8 July 2024, Pages R605-R607
Restricted access to full text and PDF download
(will become open access one year after publication)
Magic link for free access
(first seven weeks only)
See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features.
Last year's thread is here .
A wide variety of drugs is helping us to stay healthy for longer, but the effects the active ingredients may have on other species after our use are too little understood. (Photo: Myriam Zilles/Unsplash.)
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