Pharmaceutical contamination, as a research topic, concerns the presence and behavior of active pharmaceutical ingredients, metabolites, and excipients in environmental or biological matrices where they are unintended. It encompasses sources such as human and veterinary excretion, improper disposal, manufacturing discharges, and hospital effluents, and addresses fate processes including sorption, transformation, and bioaccumulation. Studies focus on occurrence at trace to ultra-trace concentrations, mixture effects, and modes of action that may induce ecotoxicological or sublethal impacts, including endocrine disruption and antimicrobial resistance selection. The topic also covers analytical detection methods, environmental risk assessment frameworks, and mitigation strategies like advanced wastewater treatment and source-control policies.
A new research review led by Griffith University suggests using human urine as a fertilizer could significantly boost sustainable agriculture—but key health risks and knowledge gaps must be addressed before it could be widely ...
Agriculture
May 26, 2026
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24
Juvenile Chinook salmon in the Lower Fraser River estuary are feeding and growing in a slurry of contaminants from pharmaceuticals, personal care products to industrial chemicals, according to a new Simon Fraser University ...
Plants & Animals
May 20, 2026
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14
A team of scientists from Berlin analyzed water and sediment samples from six water bodies in Berlin and the adjacent federal states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as well as the inflow and outflow of a ...
Ecology
May 4, 2026
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17
Every time you go for a swim, some of your sunscreen gets left behind. An estimated 25% of applied sunscreen washes off during recreational water activities, releasing some 5,000 tons annually in reef areas alone, according ...
Ecology
Apr 28, 2026
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14
An international study, led by researchers from Griffith University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Zoological Society of London and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, is the first to demonstrate ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 20, 2026
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39
Fish living downstream of wastewater treatment plants are accumulating antidepressants, opioids and other drugs of abuse in their bodies, according to a new study. Using a new analytical method they developed, a team of researchers ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 16, 2026
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47
Fish living downstream of wastewater treatment plants are accumulating antidepressants, opioids and other drugs of abuse in their bodies, according to a new study. Using a new analytical method they developed, a team of researchers ...
Ecology
Apr 16, 2026
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7
Red foxes and birds regularly cross between human-dominated and natural ecosystems. For this reason, they may be heralds of spreading antibiotic resistance into ecosystems unexposed to antibiotic pressures, a study done in ...
Ecology
Apr 16, 2026
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10
Every time we flush the toilet, wastewater containing more than tens of thousands of unknown substances, some of which may be toxic to animals and plants, runs into streams and the marine environment. In a study published ...
Environment
Apr 9, 2026
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9
U.S. officials are taking a closer look at what's in America's drinking water, including microplastics and leftover medications.
Environment
Apr 6, 2026
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14
