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Drug Pollution In Rivers Reaching Damaging Levels For Animals and Ecosystems, Scientists Warn (independent.co.uk)

pgmrdlm shares a report from The Independent: Medicines including antibiotics and epilepsy drugs are increasingly being found in the world's rivers at concentrations that can damage ecosystems, a study has shown. Dutch researchers developed a model for estimating concentrations of drugs in the world's fresh water systems to predict where they could cause the most harm to the food web. The study, published in Environmental Research Letters, focuses on two particular drugs: antibiotic ciprofloxacin and anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine. Between 1995 and 2015 it found that rising concentrations of the drugs and the increasing number of water tables affected meant the risks to aquatic ecosystems are 10 to 20 times higher than two decades earlier.

Carbamazepine has been linked to disrupting the development of fish eggs and shellfish digestive processes, and the study found potential risks were most pronounced in arid areas with a few major streams. The risks were much more widespread for ciprofloxacin, with 223 of 449 ecosystems tested showing a significant risk increase. More worrying still, when [the researchers] compared their predictions to samples from four river systems they found their model was underestimating the risk. Pharmaceutical residues can enter these fresh water systems through waste water from poorly maintained sewer systems, or from run-off over fields for drugs used in livestock.

102 comments

  1. i got to ask by FudRucker · · Score: 4, Funny

    is it turning the freakin frogs gay?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lots of chemicals are endocrine disruptors in specific ways we have no idea about. We are unraveling the DNA of the ecosystem we depend on for chemical profit/convenience without thinking. We deserve to go extinct on that basis.

      Unfortunately we'll take everything bigger than cockroaches with us.

    2. Re:i got to ask by Kuruk · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I would agree the care factor of the average human is zero.

    3. Re:i got to ask by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      I saw a (I think) Mythbusters episode about this once. The cockroaches were actually still too big to be immune to the radiation. Despite the common popular belief about this, they did rather poorly, actually. Some much smaller insect was just the right size. Some gnat or fruit fly or something. I forget exactly what.

    4. Re: i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Enjoy your Extinction Event!

    5. Re:i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The average Republican you mean, not human. Humans are smart enough to realize that destroying the world is a problem.

    6. Re:i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's turning clinton crazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... (this video is not edited, unlike yours)

    7. Re:i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The average Western consumer, actually, the country and the party don't matter too much, they are all equally bad. They are all pro-environment and shit up to the point where they are asked to do without a car or with a more expensive equipment, then the bitchin' starts.

    8. Re:i got to ask by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

      Posting to reverse an inadvertent down mod - I meant to upmod as Insightful,

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    9. Re:i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually that's horseshit. Republicans are actively destroying all environmental regulations, one side is pushing the oil company lies ongoing, the other actively seeks to replace oil-burning applications with renewables and is facing pushback from the right-wing bullshit machine. You are uninformed or a liar, whichever one you pick is plausible, but the end result is bullshit.

      No, the two parties are not equal or near equal on the environment. That's Republican faggot lies. I will call that out every time and win whatever ensuing argument effortlessly.

      Ryan Zinke is not the "equal" of Sally Jewell, Ken Salazar. It's not close. Stop lying GOP faggots, you'll live longer.

    10. Re: i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good point. Iâ(TM)ll break the news to my kids when theyâ(TM)re eating fruit loops tomorrow morning. Emily will understand, sheâ(TM)s very pragmatic for an 8yo. My son will probably cry though.

    11. Re: i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So how exactly did you manage to post that tripe?

      Only difference between Republicans and your kind of scum is the Republicans are honest and aren't delusional.

    12. Re: i got to ask by astrofurter · · Score: 2

      Riiiiiight... Blame consumers for consuming. But don't even think about blaming government for failure to govern.

    13. Re: i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Republicans elected a president because he told them Mexico would pay for a wall, his own party then did nothing to build the wall until it was too late forcing Trump to declare a national emergency which he admitted wasn't necessary but Trumps base believed and supported all of it. The Republicans believed Trump would show his taxes and had "nothing with Russia" too. We could go on and on and on with this.

      You can talk all you want about lying Democrats but acting like R's don't lie is simply ridiculous.

    14. Re:i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually that's horseshit. Republicans are actively destroying all environmental regulations, one side is pushing the oil company lies ongoing, the other actively seeks to replace oil-burning applications with renewables and is facing pushback from the right-wing bullshit machine. You are uninformed or a liar, whichever one you pick is plausible, but the end result is bullshit.

      No, the two parties are not equal or near equal on the environment. That's Republican faggot lies. I will call that out every time and win whatever ensuing argument effortlessly.

      Ryan Zinke is not the "equal" of Sally Jewell, Ken Salazar. It's not close. Stop lying GOP faggots, you'll live longer.

      Nice to see that the left coast asylum inmates are still alive and well. Why don't you scrape up all that shit from the sidewalks in the Socialist Kingdom of San Francisco before you start screaming at the rest of us to clean up our act? House all those homeless bums camped out in your public places before you demand we provide basic incomes to those who refuse to work. Send all your cars to the crusher and pedal your daily commute before you bitch about our "oil burning applications" whatever the fuck that means. Even Dianne "Rules-for-thee Not-for-me" Feinstein can figure out you smelly hippies are delusional. When you get all the kinks worked out then come tell us how it's working for you. Until then mind your own damn business Mr. soy boy tree hugger.

    15. Re:i got to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Spent 2 years back in the 90s working on trials with poly-chlorinated bi-phenyls (PCBs, also the active ingredient of agent orange), where we raised tadpoles in water solutions with varying levels of PCBs. We had Xenopus Laevis (kind of the white mouse of frogs) and a host of eastern US rana species (green, bull, pickerel, leopard). Don't recall the dosages anymore. At the higher ones, the tadpoles wouldn't live to adulthood due to under-development of their GI tract and liver. At the lower dosages, however, those effects didn't manifest nearly as much, and the tadpoles would on to adulthood, but with badly impacted gonadal development. Every adult was female and/or sterile. This research was published, in a virginia herpetological journal of some sort at the time... look for the name Rybitski (not me, the lead researcher).

    16. Re:i got to ask by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      I got to ask... did the researchers find any actual damage done? Because that's what's important and I do not see that relayed in the article. When I read the article I saw of words/clauses like [paraphrasing]... 'may/could/can do harm'...'potential effect'...'elevated risk'... 'our model predicts'... 'link to effect'... etc. None of which mean environmental damage is occurring. The closest this article comes to stating actual environmental damage is this:
      "...Carbamazepine has been linked to disrupting the development of fish eggs and shellfish digestive processes, and the study found potential risks were most pronounced in arid areas with a few major streams...."
      So, not confirmed damages but probably not good. However, the last paragraph of the article says:
      "...Our model predicts a relatively high environmental risk for eco-regions in densely populated and dry areas... yet those are precisely the areas where there is little data..."
      So, where there is the most potential for damage [i.e. dry/arid areas], they have the least data to support a conclusion.

      This is a fluff piece.

      In fairness to the study/researchers, media reporting of environmental issues is usually horrible. The study may have been excellent, conclusive, and clearly stated the uncertainties; but was butchered by a non-technical journalist and/or editor meeting a deadline.

  2. Antibiotic resistance by manu0601 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do not be surprise we see antibiotic resistance. First we gave antibiotic to cattle just in case, and then we pour some into rivers. Many microbes will get exposed to it, and some will adapt.

    1. Re:Antibiotic resistance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's a very real but smallish effect of the overall damage we're doing dumping pharmaceuticals into the environment. It's incalculable. Waste water treatment even in the best case will never be able to stem the flow.
      People just dump their old pills right down the toilet without thinking, by the millions.

    2. Re:Antibiotic resistance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A nitpick: Some microbes will always adapt, whether we put antibiotics into the wild or not. We're just killing their non-adapted competition. Antibiotics are selection pressure. They do not cause the adaptation.

    3. Re:Antibiotic resistance by ilguido · · Score: 1, Informative

      To be precise, they do not adapt, they are just selected. Antibiotics resistant microbes were always there, but they were just a tiny portion of the overall population, before selection. We are just changing the characteristics of the population, not the characteristics of the individual microbes.

  3. Wha? Drugging everything to the gills is bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If all these drugs downstream from being given to humans, diluted many millions of times over, are bad for fish, how good can the ubiquitous use of drugs be for humans?

    Gotta wonder....

  4. Personally, I blame ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... the cops. Every time they start pounding on my front door, I've got to flush my stash.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Personally, I blame ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least the fish won't have seizures.

  5. We need to go after the drug companies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And make them pay for the cleanup

    1. Re: We need to go after the drug companies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, they only have right to profits1

  6. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have no idea what you're blathering about. They're two distinct problems, both real, both with very different effects and dangers. Stop thinking you get a say in science without scientific study and credentials. You do not.

  7. Widespread Waste Mismanagement by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A while back we went to go look at a work-for-rent cabin outside of Willits, on a supposedly permacultural demonstration farm. Turned out the owner had workshops there, and she had attendees shit in buckets in an outhouse, then literally buried the shit in a hole next to the river that some neighbor dug for her with his backhoe. This person recently gave the keynote speech at a local farm conference. So as it turns out, both municipal waste management systems and hippies in the woods are shitting up our water systems. You might say it's end-to-end.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Your weird coprophile anecdote has nothing at all to do with the topic.

    2. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

      Would it possibly be better to bury these medications (away from a river)? How about mixing them up with something first to decompose/denature them, or disposing of them in used cooking oil, used paint, or other household products that are discarded in bulk containers? It just seems that anything that makes it more difficult to get rid of these medications is prone to making them victim to absent-minded cleanup down the drain.

    3. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Informative

      They have programs to incinerate (the only actual way to destroy these things) pills for free. People are simply too lazy to use them,

      The situation is actually much more complicated than you're making it out to be. Some of these drugs can actually survive passing through sewage treatment, and treated sewage is generally discharged into waterways. That's why I brought up my particular anecdote — not only is that kind of behavior a hazard because of hazardous biologicals, it's also a problem because of persistent and stable pharmaceuticals.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're misreading / misunderstanding what was discussed just now. There are programs to incinerate unwanted/unused medications, but people generally don't avail them and simply flush / discard their medications. That's a separate issue from the fact that waste treatment generally doesn't filter pharma compounds at all, or even test for them, and many survive into discharge in waterways and/or aquifers.

    5. Re: Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      More pharmaceuticals are passed via urine and feces than thrown down the drain. FFS

      It might have been different in the past where prescription drugs weren't the biggest problem, but it is now. And it isn't just prescription drugs but many plastics (found in everything from residential plumbing now to furniture finishes to disposable eyewear) as well.

      And biodegradable plastics don't vanish when they get broken down, they just get smaller and more easily enter waterways via everything from leaching out of landfills to rain that has originated on heavily trafficked lakes and rivers.

    6. Re: Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Learn to read, FFS. They're two distinct problems that both contribute. OP was conflating them. Fixing one does not solve the other. And you also don't have metrics to prove your assertion, it's just estimation anyway.

      Plastics is a third wholly separate issue. Yes they're all problems. No they will not be solved similarly.

    7. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by tquasar · · Score: 1

      There were campaigns with TV and print ads to dump unused meds in the toilet. Sewage treatment plants cannot remove pharmaceuticals and other chemicals from wastewater. And do vessels at sea discharge waste into the oceans?

    8. Re: Widespread Waste Mismanagement by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Learn to read, FFS. They're two distinct problems that both contribute. OP was conflating them. Fixing one does not solve the other.

      People flushing pills is a lesser problem than the fact that these pharmaceuticals are being excreted in/as waste. It's a result of using drugs that do not target ailments specifically, but have to wander around the body hoping they meet up with the problem. As we breed more resistant illnesses, we have to select increasingly non-ideal drugs to combat them. These drugs are more harmful both to patients, and the environment. The solution to both problems is the same — phage therapy. Unfortunately, that would require massively more health care professionals, but our system is designed to produce few of them so as to preserve profits for AMA members — who are in fact a minority of physicians.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "There were campaigns with TV and print ads to dump unused meds in the toilet." Yep, those ads did a lot of damage. They need to equally advertise the pharma incineration (free) programs, but even then it's not enough incentive.

      There need to be a much more rigorous control. I think mandating the manufacturer pay people some nominal deposit for returning unused pharma could help. It's biological waste, they need to be responsible for the lifecycle of it.

      Vessels at sea do. That's a tiny % though.

    10. Re: Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Distinct problems that both contribute, and you just added a third now. You continue to conflate them, which is unsurprising at this point. No, phage therapy does not solve all these problems nor would AMA reform.

      I'm trying to be polite but you're grossly oversimplifying.

    11. Re: Widespread Waste Mismanagement by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Distinct problems that both contribute, and you just added a third now.

      I never claimed my prior comment was an exhaustive list of the related issues. That's your [faulty] assumption, which makes an ass out of u, and umption.

      You continue to conflate them, which is unsurprising at this point.

      They are all contributory. This is not as complicated as you want to make it. I understand that you are playing the confused victim of a complicated conversation, but it's not that complicated. Anyone who can comprehend the ins and outs of a modern computer should be able to grasp these concepts adequately to have a conversation about them.

      No, phage therapy does not solve all these problems

      It would significantly reduce the amount of medication required, so while it might or might not solve the problem, it would assist in its mitigation.

      I'm trying to be polite but you're grossly oversimplifying.

      I'm trying to be polite, but you're grossly simple.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      C'mon, the username fits the story very nicely.

    13. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Pharmaceutical residues can enter these fresh water systems through waste water from poorly maintained sewer systems

      ...Or putting the outhouse too close to the river

    14. Re: Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Distinct problems that both contribute, and you just added a third now. You continue to conflate them, which is unsurprising at this point. No, phage therapy does not solve all these problems nor would AMA reform.

      You're grossly oversimple and think your opine matters. It doesn't. You're neither a policymaker nor expert, are not even read into the topic at all quite obviously.

      Simply reducing medications isn't a solution to the problem nor is it feasible. There's a reason you need to pretend everything is uncomplicated - that's the only way you can (at all) pretend to understand it.

      Your head being in your ass does not make you an expert no matter how often or loudly you self-proclaim it. Sorry. Get over it or get into the field, read and know what you're talking about instead.

    15. Re: Widespread Waste Mismanagement by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      As you persist in mischaracterizing my statements, I can see that engaging you was a fat waste of time. I should really learn to just ignore ACs. The vast majority of you are not logging in not due to laziness, but due to an unwillingness to be judged.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    16. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      I assume most of the medications in the sewage water are there because they are not completely metabolized, and we pee/poop them out.

    17. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Username checks out.

    18. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It was actually coprophobia, because the primary reasons we weren't interested were the poor waste management, and that we would be responsible for dumping the shit buckets in the hole down by the river.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    19. Re:Widespread Waste Mismanagement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why are you assuming that anything that happens in Mendocino County necessarily has anything to do with the rest of reality?

  8. APK Hosts File Engine for MacOS... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: APK Hosts File Engine 1.0++ 64-bit for MacOS h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r M a c O S . z i p

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    Vs. "Bolt on 'MoAr' illogic-logic" slowing you hosts speed u up 2 ways: Adblocks + Hardcode fav. sites u spend most time @ vs. competition loaded w/ security bugs (DNS/AntiVir) + overheads slowing u (messagepass 'souled-out' to advertisers easily detected & blocked addons + firewall filtering drivers) & their complexity leads to exploitation!

    * ONLY 1 of its kind in GUI 4 MacOS!

    (Better vs. Windows model in speed/efficiency)

    APK

    P.S.=> Protects against ALL known & unknown vulnerabilities. Now supports port filters in hosts. My work is world-class & China copied it because they can't do better. I am God's gift to Slashdot... apk

    1. Re:APK Hosts File Engine for MacOS... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought I checked Ads Disabled.

    2. Re: APK Hosts File Engine for MacOS... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dont just bitch... click FLAG, type SPAM, and get this account banned.

    3. Re:APK Hosts File Engine for MacOS... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just when I thought Slashdot had gone to hell, you appear and make everything right again.

      Preach on, APK! Let the masses be protected by your hosts file engine.

      ALL HAIL APK

    4. Re:APK Hosts File Engine for MacOS... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      APK Hosts File Engine does more damage to the environment than if all the drugs and plastics were dumped in the nearest body of water.

      Why would I use your bloated autistic bullshit when Spyware blaster does it correctly and with 0% autism?

      numbnuts

  9. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everyone gets a say. How the hell do you think Trump got elected?

    Educate instead of shaming, or you will be swiftly ignored.

  10. Carbamazepine? by jds91md · · Score: 1

    Odd medication to complain about. Crbamazepine (Tegretol) was a highly used seizure/epilepsy medication 25 years ago, and to lesser extent, used for migraines or bipolar disorder. Now it is rarely used for any of these.

    I'm puzzled why there is particular concern over a medicine that is rarely used any more.
    -- Josh

    1. Re:Carbamazepine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I was surprised as well. Why not concentrate on estrogen as from my understanding it's causing the biggest issues in aquatic life. I guess that's too politically sensitive. Can't suggest the pill is causing environmental damage even though it's fairly well documented.

  11. Re:Sorry Republican idiots, that's not science. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Die in a fire, lying GOP faggots. Nobody will miss the lies or opines presented as fact. You simply do not matter or even factor into a scientific debate on the merits, and given your lies on the topic are generally ignored now.

    --
    Vote for my party. The party of openness, compassion and peace. Where all are respected.

    Yeah. I think we know how Trump go elected.

  12. You may not be old enough to remember by bobstreo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    when rivers feeding the Great Lakes used to catch fire?

    I mean drugs in the water are bad, but at least the fish get a nice buzz. /s

    For the interested:

    https://www.environmentalcounc...

    1. Re:You may not be old enough to remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ohio needs to be nuked from orbit.

      numbnuts

  13. Yay! Free drugs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Screw pharmaceutical companies, we can just go to the river and gulp down some of that to get medication for free! All kidding aside, it sounds like we need improved treatment of wastewater before it is released to the environment to strain out or denature all these exotic and/or artificial organic compounds that seem to be persistent in the environment.

  14. By less than the popular vote, a minority? Yeah. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody realized he was Putin's professional cock holster at the time. Now you're a WILLING traitor. Obviously his dealings with Russia were quite extensive.

  15. Re: Fight pollution, not climate change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a religion, credentials are not important, the merit of the idea is.

  16. i blame those liberal hippies by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Hippies first appeared in the 1960s. Rivers first caught on fire in the 1960s. How much stronger of a link do you need?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:i blame those liberal hippies by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      Well, correlation is not causation. More likely than not, it was the good-honest, conservative patriotic pollution that caused the hippies.

    2. Re:i blame those liberal hippies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hippies first appeared in the 1960s. Rivers first caught on fire in the 1960s. How much stronger of a link do you need?

      It could go the other way: Burning rivers cause hippies.

      Hmm, I was trying to be facetious, but suspect that seeing rivers on fire might push people to become hippies.

    3. Re:i blame those liberal hippies by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Well, correlation is not causation. More likely than not, it was the good-honest, conservative patriotic pollution that caused the hippies.

      Whoa. Mind BLOWN.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    4. Re:i blame those liberal hippies by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      Well, there wasn't a whole lot to blow to begin with.

  17. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 2

    Sadly, in today's world it is "educate instead of shaming, and you'll be swiftly ignored". With people like Betsy DeVille setting the standards for public education in the developed world (oh, yes, the US does, unfortunately, still have a lot of influence) education means nothing.

    Today advertising rules, and modern society is a fucking popularity contest. The only result that matters is the polls, and these cater to the average.

    And the average is abysmally stupid.

  18. this is not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How we make America great again

  19. Re:Sorry Republican idiots, that's not science. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stupid people willing to hurt themselves and others over wanting an ignorant, racist orange turd in power are not worth respecting and in fact need to be mocked and shoved back under the rock, I mean forced back into their trailer park.

    numbnuts

  20. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sadly, in today's world it is "educate instead of shaming, and you'll be swiftly ignored". With people like Betsy DeVille setting the standards for public education

    I stopped reading when I saw this childish insult. Name-calling is a strong signal that the speaker has no argument. It is sort of funny that you pretend to advocate for education, and have zero clue what a proper argument looks like.

  21. This is the shit u libs should be focusing on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you want to fight for something; great, then fight for the water and fishies. Humanities survival depends on clean water. This would be Soo very much better than calling people disagree about the serverity of Donald Trump Generated Global Climate Change (DGGCC) faggots.

    Libtards and Trumptards can all agree we need clean water. Let's find a common goal

  22. Epilepsy is fairly rare. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure, morons overuse antibiotics but epilepsy is fairly rare. Shouldn't the environment be polluted with psych pills? Shitheads abuse those fucking things all the time and the psych scam has made it so everyone has a diagnosable "illness".

    numbnuts

  23. They are not distinct, there are finite resources by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    You have no idea what you're blathering about. They're two distinct problems

    They are not at all, because we have only so much money, and time to devote to policing either real pollution, or CO2.

    Would you rather waste time reducing a gas that plants use to grow, or to eliminate actually unnatural contaminants from our ecosystem?

    I choose to work for, rather than against, life.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  24. At risk of it bearing repeating again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're grossly oversimple and think your opine matters. It doesn't. You're neither a policymaker nor expert, are not even read into the topic at all quite obviously.

    Simply reducing medications isn't a solution to the problem nor is it feasible. There's a reason you need to pretend everything is uncomplicated - that's the only way you can (at all) pretend to understand it.

  25. Kendall you are a waste of space personified. Die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have no life, you have no job. You are a talky little bitch who thinks he matters despite reality, no, you don't matter. Nobody cares about you. You're a complete loser. Your days are video game faggot shit and nothing else.

    It's time for you to die. The world doesn't need you. Nobody needs you. Apple doesn't give a fuck about your shallow faggot fawning. Nobody does.

  26. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

    LOL, I am not making an argument, but a statement of fact. It is sort of funny that you use those big words and have no clue what they mean.

  27. Which rivers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is known that most of the plastic pollution comes from the 7 main rivers in Asia and Africa (with only China doing something to curb it), the article is sort of shy in mentioning where the issue the researcher explored seems more problematic (Middle East).

  28. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by ilguido · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is the kind of thing that is much easier to get public support for than the hockey sticks and whatnots.

    I'd like to elaborate about this point. The eventual benefits of a CO2 reduction, for example, are very difficult to acknowledge, because they could take years to materialize, if at all. Instead, the benefits of cleaner water and cleaner air can be easily and quickly evaluated. That's why there wouldn't be as much controversy for pollution as there is for climate change policies.

  29. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

    Also, most people will not be personally affected by measures to reduce drug pollution.

  30. Re: Fight pollution, not climate change by astrofurter · · Score: 0

    I suspect a lot of the money pushing the shrill "OMG the sky is falling!!!" climate change trope comes from heavy chemical polluters.

    Almost everyone agrees it's a good idea not to throw toxic waste in the river. That kind of sentiment could really cut into corporate profits. Better to get the masses worked up over an inconsequential issue (carbon is very far from the worst pollutant) by feeding them outlandish scare stories.

  31. Re:They are not distinct, there are finite resourc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And here we go with people issuing death threats to you, while you do nothing to suppress or eliminate them.

    Those ACs are dangerous people. They will hunt you and kill you. Perhaps slowly. I do not want that to happen.

    Choose APK, and choose life! He can protect you with his hosts file engine!

    ALL HAIL APK

  32. Agriculture by bradley13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While other drugs may be an issue, the elephant in the room is agriculture. For vegetable, big ag uses all sort of pesticides and fertilizers that wind up polluting the water. For animals, they use antibiotics.

    The antibiotics are not even meant to preserve animal health, although that's a nice side effect. Weirdly, animals on antibiotics gain weight more quickly, which is (afaik) the real motivation. But these antibiotics wind up in the waste, and from there in the runoff and in the rivers.

    What we need is simple: an absolute prohibition on medicating animals that are not sick. Period.

    p.s. It's a bit off-topic here, but: the prices for the antibiotics have to be cheap, for this to work economically. The exact same antibiotics for people are generally massively higher. An interesting comment on big pharma.

    --
    Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
    1. Re:Agriculture by malkavian · · Score: 2, Informative

      Considering that Antibiotic use for anything other than illness has been illegal for a long time, and it costs money, I think you're woefully misinformed in current day agricultural practice. Pesticides and fertilisers are sparingly used (and agriculture does a lot of research on the minimum spray doses they can use; after all, that costs money too).
      So your 'we need is a prohibition on medicating animals that aren't sick' already exists.

    2. Re:Agriculture by butchersong · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's a nice thought but it isn't the case in practice. There are many feedlots that feed all their animals CTC Crumbles for instance and I can tell you that inject able antibiotics are routinely used as a preventative and not to treat anything... you just need a vet signoff but when your business is feedlot beef, that is just paperwork. This is in the states. God knows what it is like in China.

  33. Re:Sorry Republican idiots, that's not science. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump got elected because both parties in our 2 party system failed to produce qualified candidates which is a required mandate in our 2 party representative democracy. There is even quite a bit of discussion on this very subject from the Founding Fathers for the Originalists in the room. Pure democracy has purely failed every time its been tried, it even has a notorious name...mob rule. The fact that Trump and Clinton were on the final ballot at all was a major failure of our REPRESENTATIVE democracy.

    The fact is either smart people with good ideas are carefully selected for leadership or there will be major problems.

  34. Re:Fight pollution, not climate change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Finding a straw man to negate a strong argument is a strong signal that the speaker has no argument.

    Betsy is an ongoing disaster for education

  35. Also humans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out the amount of prescription drugs you're consuming that people peed back into the water supply that isn't recycled out

    Especially the insane levels of birth control urine. No wonder we've hit record lows in testosterone and record highs in soyboyism and emotional instability

    Animals come second.

  36. Capitalism kills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is what happens when the profit motive incentivizes anti-social and anti-ethical behavior.

    Capitalism is killing the world.

  37. Re:Sorry Republican idiots, that's not science. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stupid people willing to hurt themselves and others over wanting an ignorant, racist orange turd in power are not worth respecting and in fact need to be mocked and shoved back under the rock, I mean forced back into their trailer park.

    numbnuts

    Shut up Hillary. Your time is over.

  38. Deniers by sdinfoserv · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you can't convince the GOP global warming is real, corporations are not people and trickle down economics is a complete failure - this is just back ground babble.

    1. Re: Deniers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The GOP already knows it is all a pack of lies. They are just hypocrites that don't care. If your average member is fifty plus years old, disasters that won't explode for 25-30 years don't really matter during their political careers.

      If you are going to die tomorrow, you don't tend to care about what happens next year.

  39. Re:They are not distinct, there are finite resourc by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

    The antibiotics are biotic in origin, they're as natural as the CO2. Climate change is worse for the overall health of a fragmented ecosystem. A large contiguous habitat might have more buffer, so I suppose in that instance pollution could be worse. You're still just trying to decide if it is better to die of hemlock or botulism, splitting hairs that don't matter.

  40. Re:They are not distinct, there are finite resourc by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Climate change is worse for the overall health of a fragmented ecosystem.

    That is incorrect, because fundamentally more energy in a system means more opportunity.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  41. Re:They are not distinct, there are finite resourc by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

    That is not correct, stable gradients are far more important than raw energy difference.

  42. Re:They are not distinct, there are finite resourc by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Would you rather waste time reducing a gas that plants use to grow, or to eliminate actually unnatural contaminants from our ecosystem?

    What is or isn't "natural" (a poorly defined term at best) is as irrelevant here as the fact that cyanide or ricin occurs naturally when it's in someone's body, killing them. What's relevant is the concentration, and whether it causes ill effects.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  43. Re:They are not distinct, there are finite resourc by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 2

    It's statistical processes that make something natural. Eg. butter has been consumed by humans for thousands of years, and previously never by any humans ever. Margarine had been consumed for about 50. So food-wise no butter is the most natural, butter is fairly natural, margarine is the least natural. It's those "very little natural" substances and processes that we for simplicity call unnatural.

    How natural something is isn't always correlated to how good it is for you of course, but in the absence of other information and combined with common sense that metric serves as a useful guide.

  44. Health by maxiposik · · Score: 0

    I don't think that natural things like weed and cbd are polluting our planet. I have read a lot of sites and none of them said something about damage to the environment. Maybe some pills are really influent nature, but let us be exact then.

  45. Re:Sorry Republican idiots, that's not science. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Poor triggered fat-ass Trumpanzee. So sad.

    numbnuts