Environmental impact of pharmaceuticals and personal care products
"[11] Most pharmaceuticals are deposited in the environment through human consumption and excretion, and are often filtered ineffectively by municipal sewage treatment plants which are not designed to manage them.
Pharmaceuticals may also be deposited in the environment through improper disposal, runoff from sludge fertilizer and reclaimed wastewater irrigation, and leaky sewer pipes.
[10] In 2009, an investigative report by Associated Press concluded that U.S. manufacturers had legally released 271 million pounds of compounds used as drugs into the environment, 92% of which was the industrial chemicals phenol and hydrogen peroxide, which are also used as antiseptics.
[examples needed] In addition, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) periodically promotes local take-back programs, as well as the National Take Back Initiative.
[15] Where there is no local take-back program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Office of National Drug Control Policy suggested in a 2009 guidance that consumers do the following: The intent of the recommended practices is that the chemicals would be separated from the open environment, especially water bodies, long enough for them to naturally break down.
[2] There are nine classes of pharmaceuticals included in PPCPs: hormones, antibiotics, lipid regulators, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, beta-blockers, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antineoplastics, and diagnostic contrast media.
These products typically enter the environment when passed through or washed off the body and into the ground or sewer lines, or when disposed of in the trash, septic tank, or sewage system.
Recent reports from India demonstrate that such production sites may emit very large quantities of e.g. antibiotics, yielding levels of the drugs in local surface waters higher than those found in the blood of patients under treatment.
[20] Individuals may add PPCPs to the environment through waste excretion and bathing as well as by directly disposing of unused medications to septic tanks, sewers, or trash.
[8][9] Trace amounts of pharmaceuticals from treated wastewater infiltrating into the aquifer are among emerging ground-water contaminants being studied throughout the United States.
[citation needed] A study published in 2014 reported a spike in the levels of ecstasy, ketamine, caffeine and acetaminophen in nearby rivers coinciding with a Taiwanese youth event attended by around 600,000 people.
[27] The most common pharmaceuticals detected were nonprescription drugs; detergents, fire retardants, pesticides, natural and synthetic hormones, and an assortment of antibiotics and prescription medications were also found.
"[citation needed] Due to the lack of research of toxicity guidelines and their effects on human health it is difficult to determine a healthy dosage for water contaminated by pharmaceuticals.
Many studies[30] have therefore been focused on determining if the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals exist at or above the accepted daily intake (ADI) at which the designed biological outcomes can occur.
[30] In addition to the growing concerns about human health risks from pharmaceutical drugs via environmental exposures, many researchers have speculated about the potential for inducing antibiotic resistance.
[34] For reference the MIC of erythromycin that is effective against 90 percent of lab grown Campylobacter bacteria, the most common food-borne pathogen in the United States, is 60 ng/mL.
For example, a study carried out by Norlund and Garvill in Sweden (2003)[37] that found that some people may make a personal sacrifice in terms of comfort because they feel that it would be helpful to reduce further environmental damage caused by the use of cars.
Bound noted that participation in altruistic activities such as Environmental Conservation groups may provide members with the ability to better grasp the effects of their actions in the environment.
In Jonathan P. Bound's opinion, the provision of information about exactly how to go about disposing unused medication properly in conjunction with risk education may have a more positive and forceful effect.
[citation needed] Another initiative is for pharmacies to serve as a take-back site for proper drug disposal such as implementing recycling bins for customers to bring back unused or expired medicines while they're shopping.
It is therefore preferable for human feces and urine to go into fertile soil, where they will receive more effective treatment by numerous microbes found there, over longer amounts of time, and stay away from waterways.
There are various concerns about the effects of pharmaceuticals found in surface waters and specifically the threats against rainbow trout exposed to treated sewage effluents.
[30] Current research on PPCPs aims to answer these questions:[45] Pharmacoenvironmentology is an extension of pharmacovigilance as it deals specifically with the environmental and ecological effects of drugs given at therapeutic doses.
However, ecopharmacovigilance is the science, and activities concerning detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment which affect humans and other animal species.
[citation needed] Due to this relatively new field of science, researchers are continuously developing and understanding the impacts of pharmaceuticals in the environment and its risk on human and animal exposure.
[citation needed] Ecopharmacology concerns the entry of chemicals or drugs into the environment through any route and at any concentration disturbing the balance of ecology (ecosystem), as a consequence.
Relatively soluble bedrock creates sinkholes, caves and sinking streams into which surface water easily flows, with minimal filtering.
[61] The agency also studied disposal practices for health care facilities where unused pharmaceuticals might be flushed rather than placed in solid waste, but did not develop wastewater regulations.
[70] The most recent trend is to use biodegradable, eco-friendly "bio plastics" which are also called as biopolymers such as derivatives of starch, cellulose, protein, chitin and xylan for pharmaceutical packaging, to reduce the hostile effects to the environment.
[74][75][1] In the early 2000s some of the toxic components found in nail polish (toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate) started being replaced by other substances.
