Does anyone have the magic blue pill? – I remember the ghost voices shouting this question in the open space of my former office as if one’s life unconditionally depended on it.
Shiny, beautifully shaped, and ready to relieve your pain - the magic pill was efficiently soothing heavy headaches and the majority of us were equipped with it. if you used up yours, there was always somebody else next by, who could support you in need.
I’ve always been fascinated by the magic pills: their colour, size, texture, the way the powder is packed, and the chemistry enclosed in such a tiny object. So much work and research put together so that I can hardly throw them away when they expire... Oh, wait, should I throw them away? If yes, how and where?
Levitating
Material: pills, wood in two shapes, rope
Size: 0.042m x 0.133m x 0.03m
Did you know that... 💡
Medicines pollute rivers across the globe. Antibiotics are known not only to harm wildlife but also to drive up the risk of our resistance to the drugs, one of the greatest threats to humanity. *
Research published in January 2022 estimated that 5 million people died in 2019 from bacterial infections that were resistant to antibiotics. The regions suffering from the highest antibiotic resistance in that study closely align with the areas of the highest drug pollution. It suggests that the contamination of rivers may be playing a significant part in driving up antibiotic resistance. **
Take-away 📚
Responsibility for pharmaceutical pollution falls on the healthcare structures and the consumers. The easiest, cheapest, and most effective solution to pharmaceutical pollution is keeping the drugs from reaching the waterways. When it comes to consumers, using medicines more carefully is a way to reduce pollution. Donating them before they expire or returning them to the manufacturers or to the pharmacy for disposal is also an option.
If you choose to throw them into the trash, it means burning or burying them in landfills. It’s a better way of disposing of them than flushing or pouring them down the drain. Nevertheless, it is not perfect either. If you choose to trash them, take them out from their packaging, crush them, and wrap them up. You can add sawdust, coffee grounds, cat litter or any other unappealing material. It reduces the chances that an animal gets interested in it and swallows the contents. ***
Related topics to reflect on 🤔
Do sewage treatment facilities fully remove pharmaceutical compounds from drinking water?
More #microinspirations 🧚
Spell-on-you
Material: pills, cardboard, magazine stripes, broken cup, tree branch
Size: 0.21m x 0.08m x 0.035m
Microcomposition
Material: pills, cardboard, small branch of tree with leaves
Size: 0.17m x 0.1565 x 0.007m
Brainy
Material: pills, cardboard, magazine stripes, pills package
Size: 0.08m x 0.135m x 0.05m
Inspired? 🤏 ♻️
Can't wait to #microart with us? Extract material or an object worth reminding us all about, create a #microstory around it, and send it via email. The stage of our art blog and social media is yours!
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**) https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2113947119 (Study Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers)