Published: 15th Dec, 2022
Context
According to a research paper, Pharmaceutical Pollution is an overlooked but urgent issue that needs coordinated action from across the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and environmental sectors.
Details:
- The research paper highlighting the important issues of Pharmaceutical Pollution was published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health.
- Almost half or 43% of the world’s rivers are contaminated with Active Pharmaceutical (API) Ingredients in concentrations that can have disastrous ramifications on health.
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Active Pharmaceutical (API) Ingredients:
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What is Pharmaceutical Pollution?
- It is mainly a form of water pollution, caused by pharmaceutical drugs and their molecules which reach the aquatic environment (groundwater, rivers, lakes, and oceans) through wastewater.
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Factors resulting in pharmaceutical Pollution |
Impact of Pharmaceutical Pollution |
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About
About the status of pharmaceutical pollution in India
- Bulk Drug Capital of India: In India, the dominant pharma industries are located in the city of Hyderabad (known as the ‘Bulk Drug Capital of India).
- Every third of the antibiotic manufacturing industries examined by the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board violate the discharge limits prescribed for Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP).
- The groundwater is highly contaminated in the regions where industries are situated.
- World’s Third-Largest Producer: India is the world’s third-largest producer of pharmaceuticals, in which about 3000 drug companies and about 10500 manufacturing units are involved.
- Pharmaceutical production has been considered one of the most polluting industries in various parts of India.
- Multi-Drug Resistance Infections: It has been estimated that about 60000 newborns die annually in India because of multidrug-resistance infections, where pharmaceutical water pollution with antimicrobial drugs is responsible for that.
Solutions:
- Investment in public education on the proper disposal of drugs
- Tougher Regulations to limit large-scale medicine flushing in hospitals
- Additional research to assess the potential human effects of pharmaceutical pollution.
- Limiting bulk purchases will ensure only the required amount is supplied
- Proper trashing must be preferred over flushing
Government Initiatives:
- National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance 2017: It was proposed to tackle the problem related to limits on antibiotics in industrial waste.
- Zero Liquid Discharge Policy: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has introduced guidelines to various pharma industries to achieve zero liquid discharge.
- Continuous Monitoring of Effluents: The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has also announced that industries must install devices to monitor the effluent continuously.
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