Green World: Prof. Peter Terezakis • OART-UT 1057 • NYU Tisch

sewage treatment

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Water and prescription drugs

Wastewater Treatment Plants Could Contribute to a ‘Post-Antibiotic World
In a preliminary study at the University of Idaho, fathead minnows were plunked in water spiked with a combination of SSRIs and anticonvulsants—a lab version of American tap water. After swimming in the contaminated water for 18 days, the minnows exhibited 324 genetic alterations associated with human neurological disorders, including autism.
Similar problems have been discovered both with prescription and nonprescription drugs in the U.S. and throughout Europe, albeit at low levels. Many have questioned whether even low levels of these medications could affect human health and reproduction.
Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking water, it has been revealed. An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater.
Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation’s drinking water, it has been revealed.
An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater.
Behavioural and physiological responses of birds to environmentally relevant concentrations of an antidepressant
The Prozac in America’s wastewater is making birds fat and shrimp reckless

 

the government has not established any safety limits for pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water, as it has for many other chemicals; the agency is just learning how to detect low concentrations of drugs in water, let alone assess the risk posed by them.
Prozac in Water Makes Fighting Fish Docile. What Does That Mean for Us?