Health to harm: Researchers call for action against pharma pollution

Subject :Environment

Context-

The academics from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, have joined forces with thought leaders from other universities, industry, government and non-profit organisations to call for societal-wide action on reducing pharmaceutical pollution from human healthcare.

Extent of pharmaceutical pollution-

Almost half, or 43 per cent, of the world’s rivers are contaminated with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in concentrations that can have disastrous ramifications on health.
In 2019, AMR accounted for more than half a million deaths in the European region and about five million globally.

Major cause of this pollution-

Throwing away unused drugs/medicines rather than returning them to the pharmacies.
As a consequence, drug pollution levels are rising in waterways across the UK and globally.

Pharmaceuticals led water pollution in India-

India is one of the biggest manufacturers of pharmaceuticals worldwide.
Varieties of pharmaceuticals have been detected on the surface, ground, and even in drinking water in many Indian cities due to the discharge of waste effluents.
The pollutants majorly enter water bodies due to the following sources: pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, hospitals, wastewater treatment plants, etc.
As a consequence, they cause adverse effects on land, water, food, and people’s health.
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.
A range of emerging contaminants pollutes the rivers near the pharma sites.
Musi River in Hyderabad is highly contaminated with drugs from pharmaceutical companies.
The concentrations were about 1000 times higher than rivers found in developed countries.
When these pharmaceutical clusters come in contact with pathogenic bacteria, it causes harmful diseases in humans.