The Medicines We Leave Behind: How Pharmaceuticals Are Entering Britain's Rivers Every Day Every day across the United Kingdom, millions of people take prescription medicines to control blood pressure, treat infections, manage diabetes, ease pain, reduce depression, prevent seizures and improve countless other medical conditions. These medicines save lives, improve quality of life and form one of the greatest achievements of modern healthcare. Yet few people consider what happens after the medicine has done its job. The answer begins not in a pharmacy or hospital, but in the human body. Many medicines are only partially absorbed before being processed by the liver and kidneys. Depending on the drug, a significant proportion may leave the body in urine either unchanged or as metabolites—chemical by-products created during metabolism. Every flush of a toilet begins a journey through the nation's sewer network toward wastewater treatment works and, ultimately, Britain's rive...
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