A study led by researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) has concluded that urban streams and waterways are polluted by a wide variety of pharmaceutical drugs, affecting aquatic organisms and ecological ecosystems. Announcing their findings today, the research team flagged the presence of drugs such as diclofenac, ibuprofen and paracetamol, clarithromycin and erythromycin; fluoxetine and citalopram; estrone, 17β-estradiol, ethinylestradiol and genfibrozil. An absolutely toxic cocktail prompts all kinds of negative consequences on the life of streams and organisms within them: bioaccumulation, endocrine disruption, impaired growth, reproductive inhibition, increased mortality and hatching disorders being just a few.
Various pharmaceutical drugs found in Portugal’s urban waterways
