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🎁 中英文稿：
Here's a way to fight the ongoing drought in California: use more wastewater for irrigation. The state's water board suggested that strategy a few years ago, but so far, of the trillions of gallons of water used for irrigation, only about six percent is wastewater. But in Israel, also notoriously dry, halfthe country's irrigation water is reclaimed water. The question is, could pharmaceutical residues, found in trace amounts in wastewater, make it into veggies—and onto your dinner plate?
為了對抗乾旱，加利福尼亞州使用污水灌溉作物。該州的供水委員會在數年前作出了上述的建議，然而到現在，在數萬億加侖用於灌溉的水中，僅有6%是污水。但在以色列，總所周知的乾旱之地，其灌溉用水半數為回用水。問題在於，廢水中痕量的藥物會否經由蔬菜富集，並最終到達我們的餐桌？
Israeli scientists focused on an epilepsy drug called carbamazepine, often found in wastewater. They detected trace quantities in lettuce, parsley, peppers and other wastewater-grown veggies. They then fed volunteers either those veggies, or organic ones grown in freshwater. After a week, the wastewater group did indeed have significantly higher levels of the chemical in their urine, compared to the freshwater group. Switching to a freshwater-grown diet quickly reversed the effect. The finding is in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. [Ora Paltiel et al, Human Exposure to Wastewater-Derived Pharmaceuticals in Fresh Produce: A Randomized Controlled Trial Focusing on Carbamazepine]
以色列的研究人員著眼于一種常被在廢水中找到的癲癇藥，卡巴西平 (carbamazepine)。他們在生菜、歐芹、大蒜和其他污水澆灌的作物中發現了痕量的藥物。然後，他們把這些蔬菜，還有一些用淨水澆灌的蔬菜提供給志願者食用。一周過後，對比吃下淨水澆灌蔬菜的一組，吃下污水蔬菜的組的尿液中藥物含量更高。而當這些志願者轉為食用淨水澆灌蔬菜，短時間後他們的尿液就恢復了正常。這項發現發表在《環境科學與技術》上。
One huge caveat: the amount of the drug in the volunteers' urine was some 40,000 times lower than would be found after just one therapeutic dose of the drug. And the researchers say it's unlikely that exposure to such tiny quantities poses any risk. But the result does suggest it's at least possible to ingest unwanted pharmaceuticals in your salad. Something for public health officials to investigate, as they weigh green water policy with what's in our greens.
警告：志願者尿液中的藥物含量不足接受癲癇藥物治療的患者的尿液中的40000分之一。研究人員表示，如此少量的藥物對人類身體造成風險的可能相當低。同時，研究人員也表示這項研究發現了至少我們有會在不情願的情況下攝入藥物。這需要公共健康部門進行進一步研究，他們的綠水政策使我們恐懼。
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