We eat more and more medicines in Sweden and they do not break down completely in the body. One consequence of this is that we simply throw out a large part of the drugs.
Our wastewater treatment plants, on the other hand, are not built to withstand this and about half go straight into nature. In Fyrisån in Uppsala, values have been measured four times higher than applicable limit values. Measurements at high levels and effects on wildlife have also been found at other locations in Sweden.
This concerns many experts.
- We need to act now, says Kia Salin at the Swedish Medicines Agency.