alt Hacker NewsNot surprising. A lot of these substances get metabolized, or just diluted by water and filtered out without being like, magically deconstructed and turned into all CO2 and H2O and N2. So a lot of wacky chemical compounds humans tend to consume tend to get detected wherever humans gather and discharge bodily fluids that eventually reach the ocean. This does not immediately indicate that e.g. evil corporations are dumping toxic wastes, forever plastics pieces are leaching out scary additives, etc.
Hm, I'm not convinced this is contamination from human waste. The quantity of caffeine and painkillers a human consume should be too small. Also, the body does break caffeine and painkillers, the amount in waste shouldn't be meaningful
If diluted in the oceans I would say that it would be undectable. Cocaine is even harder, because it is not commonly consumed, it is for a group of people, but not enough for the statistics