Environmental Pharmaceutical Pollution

It's ironic that this very same day, I learned how to dispose of prescription medicines in Driver's Education. You are supposed to take any pills, crush them, add water, put them in an absorbent material like Kitty Litter, place in a bag or container of some sort, and throw it away like other trash. By doing this, you have dissolved the drugs and soaked them into Kitty Litter. For liquid medication, absorb them with Kitty Litter or any other absorbent material, and place them in a container, and throw away with other trash. By dissolving the solids and absorbing the liquids, the possibility of the drug going to someone else for misuse is eliminated. Some pharmacies may even take the prescription medication back as a way to eliminate improper disposal. From improper disposal, the average American ingested more than 11 prescriptions last year.

Most people are unaware of the proper disposal of medicines. They end up just flushing everything down the toilet. Unfortunately, it is never that easy. Now, the drugs are in our sewage systems. Our waste water treatments do not treat medicine compounds. Also, we end up dumping more drugs into the environment than can be taken out and cleared away. These drugs are resistant to degradation. So everytime we eat or drink, we are ingesting different drugs from water without knowing it.

There definitely is an impact on people, animals, vegetation, and wildlife if pharmaceutical drugs are disposed of improperly.

Research has shown that there are more than 13 common drugs in our drinking water. These medications are inhibiting our cell's growth and has a negative effect on embryonic growth. The effects from the synergism, or interaction of drugs, has a stronger effect than the individual effects because of their interaction. I have also heard that there are increased levels of estrogen in the drinking water. This increased level of estrogen has a negative effect on women once all the extra estrogen starts building up in their bodies.

Because these drugs are so commonly found in our water supplies, animals have become resistant to some of our prescription medication. Wild geese are resistant to ampicillin, penicillin, erythromycin, and tetracycline. The number of vultures in India has been decreasing because the cattle industry over there involves a lot of diclofenac which is poisonous to vultures. The release of ovary-stimulating hormones in crayfish has been enhanced due to the increased presence of flouxetine in water. Even sunscreen agents have been found in fish in higher concentrations!

As for vegetation and wildlife, they are also impacted by the pharmaceutical pollution. Whenever the vegetation is watered, this water contains these drugs. Before we know it, these plants are resistant to all these different kinds of drugs. Who knows, these drugs may also be a part of the pesticides used on these drugs. If they are resistant to the drugs in the water, they are building up an immunity to the pesticides. This could end up leading to horrible outcomes and a decrease in our food supply. The same goes for wildlife. If the drugs are disposed of in landfills, they may dissolve and enter the ground. Once in the soil, trees and other plants can absorb the drugs. If animals consume this plant, they are consuming the drug. Everything continues on in a cycle unless we cut back on the number of prescriptions we purchase and find a way to dispose of them properly and in an environmentall friendly way.

Here are some links:
http://www.teleosis.org/pdf/symbiosis/Pharmaceutical_Pollution_Ecology_Toxicology.pdf
http://www.teleosis.org/presentations/environmental_burden.ppt