Overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals has led to high concentrations of the most common varieties in river basins throughout China as some 53,800 tons entered the environment through urine and excrement in 2013, South China Morning Post reported, citing a study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Researchers found the highest levels in waterways around Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, where the population is dense and rainfall is scarce, while the lower reaches of the Pearl River had the highest concentrations in southern China. (For more on China’s antibiotics addiction, see our recent in-depth report.)
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