Common pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, antiseptics, beta-blockers, and cholesterol-lowering drugs, have been showing up in lakes and rivers, according to new research done in Europe. The drugs don’t appear to be coming from manufacturing plants because some were found in the surface water of nations where the drugs are not produced. So, the studies’ authors conclude that people and farm animals are passing the drugs through their urine into the watershed. Steve Curwood spoke with Janet Raloff (RALL-off) who is a senior editor at the magazine Science News.
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