Sewage-based Epidemiology Requires a Truly Transdisciplinary Approach

“If asked whether you had consumed illicit drugs recently, would you admit it? If yes, could you precisely recall types of drug, times and amounts used? If you were the person commissioned with the task of quantifying drug use, what approach would you use given the social stigma attached with such behavior? We measure drug residues in sewage, which represents urine of entire populations, to provide an objective estimate of total drug use in a region. In transdisciplinary projects, sewage-based results provide valuable information at unrivaled spatiotemporal resolution complementing traditional data.”
(Citaat: Ort, C., Banta-Green, C.J., et al. – Sewage-based Epidemiology Requires a Truly Transdisciplinary Approach – GAIA 23(2014)3, p.266-268)