Pollution of the world’s rivers from medicines and pharmaceutical products poses a “threat to environmental and global health”, a report says. Paracetamol, nicotine, caffeine and epilepsy and diabetes drugs were widely detected in a University of York study. The research is among the most extensive undertaken on a global scale. Rivers in Pakistan, Bolivia and Ethiopia were among the most polluted. Rivers in Iceland, Norway and the Amazon rainforest fared the best. The impact of many of the most common pharmaceutical compounds in rivers is still largely unknown. But it is already well established that dissolved human contraceptives can impact the development and reproduction of fish, and scientists fear the increased presence of antibiotics in rivers could limit their effectiveness as medicines.(BBC)…[+]