Pharmaceuticals in Rivers Threaten World Health 河流中的藥品殘留威脅全球健康

Pollution of the world’s rivers from medicines and pharmaceutical products poses a “threat to environmental and global health”， a report says.

Paracetamol， nicotine， caffeine and epilepsy and diabetes drugs were widely detected in a University of York study.

Rivers in Pakistan， Bolivia and Ethiopia were among the most polluted. Rivers in Iceland， Norway and the Amazon rainforest fared the best.

The impact of many of the most common pharmaceutical compounds in rivers is still largely unknown.

But it is already well established that dissolved human contraceptives can impact the development and reproduction of fish， and scientists fear the increased presence of antibiotics in rivers could limit their effectiveness as medicines.

The study sampled water from more than 1，000 test sites in more than 100 countries.

Overall， more than a quarter of the 258 rivers sampled had what are known as “active pharmaceutical ingredients” present at a level deemed unsafe for aquatic organisms.

一份報告稱，全世界河流中的藥物污染對“環境和全球人類的健康造成了威脅”。

英國約克大學的一項研究表明，在世界多地的河流中檢出對乙酰氨基酚、尼古丁、咖啡因以及治療癲癇和糖尿病的藥物成分。

巴基斯坦、玻利維亞和埃塞俄比亞的河流是污染最嚴重的。冰島、挪威和亞馬孫雨林的河流是污染最輕的。

河流中檢測到的許多最常見的藥品化合物會造成什么影響，在很大程度上還是未知數。

但是現在確定無疑的是，溶解在水中的人類避孕藥會影響魚類的發育和繁殖。河流中的抗生素日益增多，科學家擔心這會限制抗生素作為藥品的有效性。

該研究對上百個國家的1000多個測試點的水進行了抽樣檢測。

總體上，在抽樣檢測的258條河流中，超過四分之一的河流中含有所謂的“活性藥物成分”，而且已經達到了對水生生物不安全的水平。

“What we know now is that even the most modern efficient wastewater treatment plants aren’t completely capable of degrading these compounds before they end up in rivers or lakes，” Dr John Wilkinson， who led the research， said.

The two most frequently detected pharmaceuticals were carbamazepine， which is used to treat epilepsy and nerve pain， and metformin， used to treat diabetes.

High concentrations were also found of so-called “lifestyle consumables” like caffeine [coffee] and nicotine [cigarettes] as well as the painkiller paracetamol.

In Africa， artemisinin—used in anti-malarial medicine—was also found in high concentrations.

The report says the increased presence of antibiotics in rivers could also lead to the development of resistant bacteria， damaging the effectiveness of medicines and ultimately posing “a threat to environmental and global health”.

The most polluted sites were largely in low- to middle-income countries， and in areas where there was sewage dumping， poor wastewater management and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The full report has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

這項研究的帶頭人約翰·威爾金森博士說：“我們現在知道的是，在將廢水排入河流或湖泊前，即使是最現代化的、最高效的廢水處理廠也無法完全降解這些藥品化合物。”

在河流中最常檢測到的兩種藥物是治療癲癇、神經疼痛的卡馬西平和治療糖尿病的二甲雙胍。

河流中還發現了高濃度的咖啡因（來自咖啡）、尼古丁（來自香煙）等所謂的“生活消費品”和鎮痛的對乙酰氨基酚。

在非洲，抗瘧藥所含的青蒿素在河流中的濃度也很高。

報告稱，河流中越來越多的抗生素還會導致人類對抗生素的耐藥力增強，藥品的有效性減弱，最終會“對環境和全球人類的健康造成威脅”。

受污染最嚴重的河流大多在中低收入國家，以及那些傾倒污水、對廢水管理不善和生產藥品的地區。

完整的報告發表在期刊《美國科學院院報》上。

Word Study

fare /fe?（r）/ v. 進行，進展

dissolve /d?'z?lv/ v. 使（固體）溶解

resistant /r?'z?st?nt/ adj. 有抵抗力的

sewage /'su??d?/ n. （下水道的）污水，污物