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Drugs flushed down toilets a risk to humans and environment, Aussie study finds

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By NewsCore

ADELAIDE, Australia -

Large quantities of illicit and prescription drugs are being flushed down toilets -- and they are starting to risk people's health, Australian research has found.

Authors of the UniSA study warned there is no policy on the safe disposal of the drugs into treated wastewater, surface water, drinking water, or the air; yet the residual drugs are making their way back into innocent victims from the environment and human food chain.

Researcher Dr. Raktim Pal said as drug use increased, more drugs and their ingredients were being flushed in human waste, or down sinks and other drains into the environment via the illegal dumping of drug-lab chemicals.

"Contamination by illicit drug residues at very low concentrations appears to be widespread in populated areas, with potential risks for human health and the environment," he said.

"Although the environmental concentrations are not very high, they can potentially impact the human health and ecosystem functioning."

Although treated effluent is not consumed by people, it does re-enter the water system through run-off during wet weather, landfill seepage and aquifer recharge, Pal noted.

He said there were many ways the drugs in the environment could be taken up by innocent people and the effects could be similar to the long-term health effects of drug abuse.

Pal added that numerous studies had shown drugs such as cocaine, morphine, amphetamines and MDMA were not only found in the environment in dangerous quantities but they also reacted to make other complex and dangerous compounds.