What an extraordinary story doing the rounds yesterday that authorities can identify the level of drug use in Australia by testing samples of 'waste water'. Let's not be coy about this: by 'waste water', they mean sewage.
You have to feel sorry for the poor university staff who thought they were safe for life in a cosy job, but find themselves in wellies, wading through unspeakable 'waste water' collecting samples.
Apparently, the researchers are able to identify particular suburbs and tell which ones prefer oxycontin, and which ones spend their cash on methamphetamine. They can even tell the suburbs who go the traditional route of getting smashed on alcohol.
Is there a privacy issue here? Shouldn't they be getting my permission before they analyse my wee to check on my bad habits? Oh, I know they claim they are just checking trends, and they don't collect samples from individual people. But, how do we know? It wouldn't be out of the question to have monitors on individual sewage lines.
And what about the old hippies living out in the bush, in places like Nimbin and Jackey's Marsh? Many of them live in teepee or shacks, not connected to the sewerage system so their wee doesn't get recorded. I suspect their contribution would make a big difference to the results. I hope the scientists have made allowance for this error.
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